Category: MLB

If I hadn’t known any better, I would have assumed the Royals were the team that were partying late into the night and didn’t get into town until 3 AM. They played perhaps their sloppiest game of the season and despite the fact that Gavin Williams didn’t have anything approaching his best stuff, the Royals fell to the Guardians 12-9.

I don’t usually like to go over the game with such a fine-tooth comb, but this game defies understanding without it. So here we go.

The sloppiness started immediately. Steven Kwan took a strike on the inside corner. He knew it was a strike. Carter Jensen knew it was a strike. But the umpire called it a ball and, inexplicably, Carter didn’t challenge. Next up, Jose Ramírez hit a ground ball to third. It looked like a good chance for a double play, but instead Maikel Garcia let the hop play him, and it deflected off of his glove for no outs. At that point, Noah Cameron got a flyout from Chase DeLauter; Ramírez attempted to tag and advance to second behind Kwan going to third. The throw appeared to be there in time, but J-Ram swam around it. However, he appeared to slide past the bag while Michael Massey was holding the tag. The umpire called him safe, and the Royals didn’t challenge. From there, Noah gave up a legitimate single to Angel Hernandez to score two before mercifully escaping.

In the bottom of the first, Bobby Witt Jr. took a one-out, four-pitch walk. Jac Caglianone roped a double into the left field corner that could score only someone as fast as Bobby. Things were looking up!

Maikel Garcia smashed a single into right that was hit too hard to score Jac, but Maikel inexplicably took a wide turn around first. It didn’t look like he was trying to draw a throw to allow Jac to score, which would have been a mistake given how hard he hit that ball in any case. But that would mean he simply got sloppy running the bases, which isn’t better. The Guardians got him in a rundown, and Jac exacerbated the problem by kind of dancing to no-man’s-land between third and home. Fortunately for the Royals, they missed the tag on Maikel but easily threw out Jac. Jac needed to either aggressively go home or stay at third; the in-between stuff guaranteed he wasn’t going to do anything positive.

Cameron gave up a home run to Austin Hedges in the top of the second, and it seemed like things might get completely out of control. But he didn’t give up another baserunner that inning. In the bottom of the inning, John Rave reached on a bunt single, and Carter Jensen got his second look at Gavin Williams.

That tied Carter Jensen with Mike Piazza for the most extra-base hits for a catcher in a rookie season. More importantly, that tied the game! Maybe things weren’t going to be so bad after all!

Nope. Cameron gave up another run in the top of the fourth.

But the bottom of the fourth! John Rave led off with a walk. Kyle Isbel inexplicably sacrificed him over. The Guardians went to their bullpen for Tim Herrin rather than risk pushing Williams even further when they needed him in the playoffs. Rave immediately stole third and scored on a Jensen sacrifice fly. Then Bobby singled to right, stole second, and scored on a Caglianone single to right. Maikel Garcia hit a slow roller to the left side; it was clearly going to be an infield single. Jac Caglianone inexplicably took a hard turn around second and ended up in a rundown that ended the inning instead of putting runners at first and second for Vinnie Pasquantino. Still, they had the lead!

Alas, Cameron still hadn’t found his command. Jo Adell doubled, and two batters later, David Fry crushed a home run to left to take the lead right back. Travis Bazzana hit a fly ball to right field, and the wind really got a hold of it. Jac was slow to read how much shallower it was going to end up, and Bazzana got a double out of it when Jac’s dive came up short. Hedges hit a grounder back to Cameron; Bazzana inexplicably took off for third, Cameron tossed it to Maikel, but the team failed the rundown, and the Guardians ended up with runners at second and third. Bazzana then scored on a Brayan Rocchio groundout.

That’s where the score stayed until the bottom of the eighth. Connor Thomas pitched the sixth and seventh, allowing only a hit, but walking no one and striking no one out. Lucas Erceg walked the bases loaded in his inning, but otherwise escaped unscathed. His body language was complaining about the state of the mound – remember tonight’s game was delayed almost an hour by rain and it was a soggy night even when it wasn’t raining,

Massey led off the inning with a single to center. Rave hit a deep fly to the left field corner, and Massey was not prompt about returning to first, so he was doubled off when Steven Kwan and Rocchio combined to pick up the assist. But Kyle Isbel dumped a single into right and Carter Jensen wasn’t going to let the Royals go down so quietly.

You’ll hear at the start of that clip that Ryan wondered if Massey was hurt, but he stayed in the game.

That gave Carter the new record for most XBH by a rookie catcher in a season. Don’t count him out of the Rookie of the Year conversation just yet!

Nate Pearson got the ninth, and he also walked the bases loaded. While he was at it, Travis Bazzana gifted the Royals a pop-out on the only strike Pearson threw in his first 13 pitches. He was also complaining about the mound. Finally, they came out and messed around with the dirt. Pearson responded by getting Kwan on a soft ground out to Garcia; the play was at the plate. But then Pearson walked Jose Ramírez to force in the go-ahead run.

Matt Quatraro went to get Nolan Hoffman to try and get past DeLauter. Hoffman walked him, too. Then he walked Petey Halpin, who had pinch-run for Jo Adell earlier in the game. Finally, Angel Martinez put a ball in play, a double down the left field line. Halpin was mercifully thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Heaven knows if we had had to wait for a Royals’ pitcher to actually earn an out we would probably still be there.

Salvy crushed a home run to left field with Maikel on to cut the deficit to 3.

The home run, number 324, tied him with Lance Parrish and Gary Carter on the all-time list for home runs by a primary catcher.

So let’s do a little summarization here, because that was a lot.

• Noah Cameron had his worst start since he started calling his own pitches. He finishes the season with a 4.11 ERA.
• The Royals walked a season-high 13. Each of the last three relievers the Royals used, all of whom likely figure in their plans for next year, allowed three or more baserunners, including at least two walks.
• Six different Royals reached base at least twice, including Jensen’s pair of dingers, Jac Caglianone coming through with three hits, and John Rave reaching twice and scoring each time.
• The Royals outhit the Guardians, but those walks were backbreaking. The baserunning errors didn’t help.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Royals were paying tribute to Denny’s lengthy career all night. I had kind of shrugged my shoulders about it all because I expected it to be very corporatized and saccharine. But, in the end, the tributes all seemed quite heartfelt. I may have even teared up a little. It was a bright spot on an otherwise exceptionally frustrating night for Royals fans.

The Guardians’ magic number to win the division fell to two. The Royals will try to bounce back tomorrow. Michael Wacha (3.33 ERA, 4.36 SIERA) will make his final start of the year; he needs 5.2 innings to reach 200 for the season. The Royals will probably beg him to throw at least that many, considering the state the bullpen has been in for the past couple of weeks. The Guardians will counter with Tanner Bibee (4.35 ERA, 4.49 SIERA). The game will start at 6:10 PM.

SAN FRANCISCO ― Every year, the San Francisco Giants recognize one of their players who exemplifies the spirit of Giants legend Willie McCovey. A player who's demonstrated ability, leadership and inspiration.

The baseball club honored ace pitcher Logan Webb with the 2026 Willie Mac Award ahead of Friday night's showdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Webb was joined by his family, parents Erik and Christie, and previous Willie Mac Award winners including Hunter Pence, Will Smith and teammate Willy Adames, who told Webb he won the award. Webb's competitive spirit helped earn him the award, which is voted upon by Giants fans and team personnel, including players, coaches, training and clubhouse staff.

The 46th annual presentation of the Willie Mac Award 🧡 pic.twitter.com/6jVqwWqqmV

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) September 26, 2026

"It's exciting, it's an honor," Webb told reporters. "I believe I've come in second now three years in a row and I finally got one. To be honest, not the year probably I expected to get one, but it means my teammates see something in me, believe in me. It's cool. Staff, coaches, people that I've known and voted for me ... that makes me excited."

A deserving feat for the Giants' longest tenured player. Webb was drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 MLB Draft and made his debut during the 2019 season.

In his final start of the regular season, a final chance to make his case for a start in the NLDS, Robert Gasser did everything right.

In what became an 8-4 win, Gasser absolutely shoved against the Cardinals across six innings, allowing just one hit, a homer to Ivan Herrera, while striking out a career-high nine batters. He retired the first 10 batters that he faced, striking out six of them.

The Brewers offense, meanwhile, was providing him plenty of run support. They jumped on the board quickly in the first with a Garrett Mitchell single followed by a Brice Turang RBI double for his 95th RBI of the season.

They would punch through again in the fourth inning, which got started with a leadoff walk from Christian Yelich, followed by a single from Joey Ortiz. A fielder’s choice grounder from Luis Lara put Yelich on third and then another fielder’s choice grounder from Sal Frelick brought Yelich home to make it a 2-1 Brewers lead. David Hamilton would double and put runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Mitchell grounded out to first to end the inning.

But the Brewers were not done scoring yet. In the 5th inning, Brice Turang led things off with his second double of the night and came around to score on the single from Jake Bauers. Christian Yelich followed with a single of his own, then Luis Lara drew a walk and the bases were loaded. Oli Marmol made a pitching change and pulled his starter Michael McGreevy and turned to Brycen Mautz, a left-hander, out of the bullpen. Pat Murphy countered with Jackson Chourio to pinch hit for Sal Frelick. Chourio drew a walk to bring in another run and make it a 4-1 ballgame.

Armed with a three run lead, Gasser went back out for the 6th and sat down the Cardinals in order. He received a standing ovation walking off the mound and Murphy would turn the ball over to his bullpen after that.

“He threw the ball great. He’s been throwing the ball with great confidence” Pat Murphy said. “I think he’s got tremendous confidence and he’ll definitely be somebody who pitches for us [in October].”

Bryse Wilson was first out of the gate, just activated off the IL a few hours prior, and Wilson stumbled out of that gate.

He allowed a home run to the first batter he faced, Jordan Walker, then gave up a single to Leo Bernal, and then a moonshot home run to Alec Burleson, who hit the foul pole about 80% of the way to the top. Very quickly, that 4-1 Brewers lead turned into a 4-4 tie ballgame.

Fear not, the Brewers offense was not done yet.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Chourio got things started with a leadoff single. David Hamilton was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Garrett Mitchell dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but pitcher Justin Bruihl airmailed the throw to first, allowing Mitchell to reach and the bases to be loaded for Turang. Turang punched a single to left, through the drawn in infield, to bring in his 96th and 97th RBIs of the season.

In the month of September, Turang is hitting .368/.484/.592 with eight doubles, three homers, and 19 RBIs.

The Cardinals then made another pitching change, bringing in Cade Winquest. Winquest had Mitchell picked off at second, Mitchell tried to get in a rundown and was heading to third. Winquest decided to make an off-balance throw and airmailed it over the third baseman’s head and to the railing.

That allowed both runners to advance, then Contreras punched a single to left that brought home another run and make it 7-4 with still nobody out. Jake Bauers added in a sacrifice fly to left and the Brewers took an 8-4 lead.

Trevor Megill came on for the 9th inning and was able to close it out in short order and the Crew secured their 101st win of the regular season.

Joey Ortiz was removed from the game late due to a nagging knee bruise that he suffered in Philadelphia. Murphy said his knee was “really sore today, so that’s why we put Hamilton at short, just because Joey’s knee couldn’t move very much.”

There are just two games left to play in the regular season. Dustin May will start on Saturday while Jacob Misiorowski will start on Sunday.

Bill Giles, the longtime Phillies executive and former owner, died Friday just 18 days after turning 92.

He died at his home in Gladwyne, Pa., according to the Phillies.

“The Phillies family lost an icon today,” Phillies managing partner and CEO John Middleton said in a statement from the organization. “Bill helped to reshape our franchise from a traditional baseball club into a highly visible entertainment and business operation. His profound impact in overseeing one of the greatest eras in franchise history, both on and off the field, will forever be his legacy.”

Giles is not only known as the architect of the 1980 World Series championship team (the Phillies’ first), led by series MVP Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose and Steve Carlton, but he’s also credited with introducing the Phillie Phanatic, one of the most notable mascots across sports.

Giles believed the Phillies needed a mascot capable of entertaining families and connecting with younger fans.

The Phanatic debuted in 1978 and eventually grew into one of the most notable mascots in pro sports.

It was also perfectly representative of Giles’ approach to baseball and the business around it.

Giles joined Philadelphia in 1969 as vice president of business operations and became known for finding increasingly creative — and occasionally bizarre — methods of fan entertainment.

His promotions included a tightrope walk in conjunction with Karl Wallenda, the first of the famed Flying Wallendas, who walked a nearly 640-foot tightrope several hundred feet high across Veterans Stadium in 1973.

Wallenda performed the stunt with zero netting and completed the tightrope, to Giles’ relief. And he did it again in 1976.

In one instance, Giles attempted to have “Kiteman” fly a hang glider from a ramp in the upper deck of the ballpark to the mound to deliver a ball to then-Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo on Opening Day in 1972.

“Kiteman” crashed into the upper deck, although he survived.

“My goal was to do unusual things — cash scrambles and giveaways and all that stuff,” he said. “If we could get them to the ballpark once, particularly when we opened the Vet, they hopefully will like it enough to where they would come back enough to become a mini-season-ticket holder for 10-15 games a year and then eventually a full season-ticket holder. It was that stepping stone of developing a fan base that started by doing a lot of nutty things.”

Schmidt called Giles a “dear friend.”

“Sad news today as we learned of the passing of a dear friend of the Phillies family, Bill Giles,” Schmidt said in a statment. “Bill was the heart and soul of the organization for over two decades. He was a close personal friend to so many of us. He will always be a big part of Phillies history. Prayers go to the Giles family in this time of mourning.”

After a shaky start, Joe Ryan settles in nicely (except for hitting Alejandro Osuna twice) and the bats come to life. Good chance to play spoilers this weekend! Inning-by-inning notes:

1: Walker Jenkins almost makes a great catch on a sinking Brandon Nimmo liner, but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, curling, darts, and lots of other games. Joe Ryan hits the next guy, and Corey Seager singles home a run. Then Wyatt Langford grounds it right to Royce Lewis at first; he looks home (and would have had the runner) but Ryan Jeffers is pointing to first, so Royce makes the out there. Ezequiel Duran pops out, and then Ryan hits ANOTHER guy because, I dunno, his dog died in Texas or something. Finally, Ryan gets out of this after 28 pitches. Yeek.

It takes Jake deGrom 17 less pitches and he achieves a much better outcome. Sometimes less is more, you know? Rangers 2-0

2: Well, that was better for Ryan. Maybe he doesn’t need foot/arm/elbow/knee surgery that will sideline him for all of next year. Oh c’mon you know he does. He’ll just have it on the last day of spring training.

Hey, here ya go! Walk, single, single, Royce single! Bringing up Emma Rodriguez with runners on first and third. deGrom remembers he’s a strikeout machine and gets him. Then a weird play; Ryan Kriedler bunts it right back to deGrom. He looks over to first and… nobody’s there. 1B Jake Burger had moved towards where he thought the ball was going; everybody’s safe.

Then Luke Keaschall triples! I mean, I woulda given him a double, ‘cause he gets to third ‘cuz a stoopid throw by RF Nimmo misses everybody trying to cut it off. But, hey, we’ll take it, since soon enough… wild pitch! Keaschall scores! The Twins don’t get anything further out of it, but that was fun. Batting around is fun. Twins 6-2

3: 1-2-3 for Ryan. Maybe only one arm/leg need to be surgeried. One of the guys he hit in the first has to come out, Josh Jung; hope he’s OK and never reads Carl Jung.

Nothing else happens for awhile since I am making a hot dog and my toaster oven affects all hitters in a ten-mile radius.

4: As my hot dog finishes, Kreidler takes a walk and Keaschall doubles him home. There’s a two-out liner by Clemens that Nimmo almost catches, but close only counts in depth charges against Jules Verne submarines (Captain Nemo joke). So Keaschall scores. Then Clemens knocks him in. The Twins don’t add any more because they don’t care about you, still Minnesota 8-2

5: With two outs and a guy on first, Ryan hits his third batter of the game; per gintzer, this can get you thrown out of some over-50 baseball leagues. Nothing comes of it.

That’s all for deGrom, who has a contract next year for $37 million (and a mutual option for 2028, if humanity still exists, which I give a 50/50 chance). Gavin Collyer in; he is 6’1” and weighs 165 pounds, so I could wrestle him. I would lose, though. Twins down 1-2-3.

6: A one-out single off the mound, a two-out walk. Ryan notches his eighth strikeout on his 102nd pitch; call it a season, friend Joe.

Keaschall with the one-out single; he’s a homer shy of “the cycle.” He does have 10 so far, it’s not impossible! And now Klobberin’ Kody Klemens has 27. Heirs of the Minneapolis Millers 10-2

7: Other Kody (Funderburk) in; leadoff hitter Danny Jansen almost parks one, but Emma steals it! Good little moment for the home crowd. We’ve seen this a few times from Rodriguez already! Hope the future is fun for him.

8: Tommy Nance in for the Twins. FYI, he’s still under contract for awhile so let’s hope he’s good. Leadoff walk then a DP to end that.

Keaschall comes up with a chance at the cycle and… screw that guy just a dumb old base hit, we hate him now.

9: Mein Gott, the Twins challenge a replay with a 10-2 lead. I know it can help Taylor Rogers’ stats, but c’mon, guys! Anyways nobody scores and Twims Wim! (Yes we spell it wrong on purpose sometimes.)

Studs: Joe after pulling his Radke, Luke for the near-cycle, Emma for the catch, Clemens (3-4, HR, 3 RBI.) Duds: the dang Mariners for not beating both the mediocre Texas teams to the division title.

COTG go to nagurski with an observation about who gets work in TV commercials, sandwiches with an observation about some non-Emma outfield play, BobbyDarwin with an observation about diaphragm contractions, and goose with “So many good outfielders for the twims in its history. Hopefully we’re just watching Emma get started as the new one.”

Thanks to everybody who joined in! I’ve done end-of-season threads where there were seven comments and they were all me.

Next week is Rod Carew’s 81st birthday, so here’s a short fun video about him that popped into the MLB.com film room.

Tomorrow’s game is at 3:10, and features Totally Bad Dude against our own Baily Ober. Catch y’all next time! If there’s any games next year!

The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the Minnesota Twins scored ten runs.

There was a moment from a camera phone video recording where the Rangers returned to the field to salute the home fans after Thursday’s final game at The Shed this season, and as they departed one of the players yelled “We’ll be back!”

That was a pretty bold declaration, I figured. Maybe they were unaware of the standings or tiebreaker scenarios. Not much of a scoreboard watcher, perhaps. Maybe they were held captive by the moment and forgot that the team had just lost a series at home to the National League East cellar dwellers with everything in front of them. Maybe they meant next season, I don’t know. Even that is perhaps against the odds.

For the Rangers to return to the field at The Shed they would need to win the American League West, of which they came into the evening tied with the Houston Astros. The only problem is they didn’t beat the Astros more than they lost to them this summer so they were essentially behind Houston for the division crown with three games to play. We don’t do Game 163s anymore.

To overtake Houston, the Rangers reasonably needed to sweep Minnesota as losing a game would mean the Astros would essentially have to lose at least two of three to the homeless Athletics over the weekend. It’s a rough ask to count on the team ahead of you to basically drop a series to what is pretty much a minor league squad playing in a minor league stadium. Then again, the Rangers themselves did that twice in two tries this year.

So tonight’s game was crucial, they all are, but the Rangers had Jacob deGrom on the mound needing to set the tone for a series that could indeed send them back to playing baseball in Arlington if they finally showed up big even in the season’s dying moments.

Instead, they lost 10-2.

The Rangers did open with the fire of a club that was captured calling their return home by scoring a couple off of Minnesota starter Joe Ryan in the first inning. A 2-0 lead and deGrom made it through the first inning without allowing runs? Things were looking promising.

However, in the bottom of the second inning, the Rangers finally collapsed under the immense weight of their mediocrity. As deGrom was allowing six runs while the Twins batted around, it was announced that Josh Jung was exiting the game after being hit in the wrist by Ryan in the top of the first during Texas’ scoring rally.

The Rangers have been winning the games they’ve won over the last few weeks almost exclusively on the back of Jung and his bat. Without him for much of the second half, the team treaded water at the best of times and sunk most of the time. It was about as ill an omen as you could get.

By the end of things, deGrom allowed eight runs in four innings. Is deGrom pitching with some nagging injury while trying to carry this team he believes in to the playoffs? Probably. That doesn’t really matter right now as we sit here. There’s been six months of Texas Rangers baseball. They had perhaps the easiest path in league history to making this final series a coronation instead of do-or-die only to crater regardless both all summer and now.

Anyhow, deGrom’s season ERA will end at 4.20, or, per Shawn McFarland, placing him 35th out of the 45 qualified starting pitchers this season. Which yeah, that’s both bad and disappointing but hey, at least he qualified!

Sure, the Rangers aren’t eliminated yet but that almost feels like a threat more than anything else. You might actually have to watch more of this! And they might have to put it on national TV and advertise it as postseason baseball!

The Rangers will be back at home this year but it will probably be on their couches this October unless we get some miracles on the West Coast, as undeserving as that would be.

Player of the Game: Trevor Williams not only didn’t allow a run in two innings tonight, he was also the most recent late addition to the team earlier this month so he wasn’t around very much this season so that’s a pretty big win for him personally.

Up Next: The Rangers and Twins will play the second game of this series with Texas trying to potentially make game No. 162 matter. They haven’t announced a starter. Minnesota will opt for RHP Bailey Ober.

The Saturday afternoon first pitch from Target Field is scheduled for 3:10 pm CDT and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.

It wasn’t exactly a meaningful game, but the Yankees projected a much better image in the nightcap against the Baltimore Orioles and won it 6-3 after losing the first game in ugly fashion. New York’s pitchers certainly brought the strikeout stuff for this one, as Ryan Yarbrough, Will Warren, Brent Headrick, John Schreiber, and Alexander Cornielle combined to punch out 17 — tied for a team sign high among standard nine-inning efforts with a gem led by Cam Schlittler’s 13 on June 19th against the Reds.

The Yankees’ record is now 93-68 with one regular season game left. If the weather holds off (no guarantees there), they have a shot at matching last year’s 94-68 record, which is frankly not bad because their best player, Aaron Judge, only suited up for 66 games.

This game actually started as a pitchers’ duel, with Orioles’ starter Brandon Young and Yarbrough trading zeroes for the first 2.1 innings. The lefty departed after 49 pitches, but did not allow a run despite surrendering four hits and a walk, fanning five.

The Yankees brought in Warren with one out and a runner on first, which represented a nice training scenario ahead of his expected bullpen role in the Wild Card Series.

As it turned out, Warren was amazing, even though he allowed a double in that same inning that could have produced a run for Baltimore, and covered 3.2 scoreless frames while conceding a mere three hits and racking up seven strikeouts. He will finish the regular season with a nice 3.92 ERA and just over a strikeout per inning.

The Yankees finally got to Young in the bottom of the fifth. After two outs, Austin Wells walked and crossed home thanks to Ryan McMahon’s RBI double.

Young pitched a very solid game, completing five frames in which he conceded a single run on two hits and three walks. He whiffed six and finished the game and the season with a 3.56 ERA.

The Bombers extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth against the O’s bullpen. Spencer Jones singled in Heliot Ramos, aided by a fielding error by right fielder Rece Hinds. Later in the inning, Anthony Volpe (playing shortstop with George Lombard Jr. getting a rare rest) hit an automatic double that plated Luis García Jr. and Jones to make it a 4-0 ballgame.

Headrick replaced Warren in the seventh and surrendered the Orioles’ first run. With the bases loaded and one out, Leody Taveras hit a sac fly to bring in Pete Alonso. Ramos and García would hit consecutive RBI singles in the bottom of the inning, though, and the Yankees were up 6-1.

Cornielle entered for his MLB debut, and was promptly greeted by a Dylan Beavers homer to right, making it a 6-2 ballgame. The rookie got into some trouble after the long ball, putting two men on base before getting the first out. He then surrendered a very long RBI double to Taveras that just missed the stands, as the O’s trimmed the Yankees lead to three runs.

Cornielle then shook it off and struck out the next two hitters to end the ballgame on a high note. Ben Rice went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored, and McMahon went 2-for-4 with a double, a run, and an RBI. Volpe plated two, and Wells walked twice and scored once.

The Yankees are supposed to wrap up their season on Sunday against the Orioles, starting at 3:20pm ET. Elmer Rodríguez has been announced as New York’s starter. However, the nor’easter that forced this doubleheader in the first place has led to some bad forecasts for Sunday, so it’s very possible that Game 162 gets nixed. We’ll find out soon enough! Stay dry out there.

Box Score

WASHINGTON — Carson Benge’s ascent has been one of the compelling reasons to watch the Mets for much of this season’s second half.

Friday night, the 23-year-old outfielder homered in the fifth inning of the Mets’ 7-6 loss to the Nationals. The blast was his 20th and made him the first rookie in franchise history to join the 20-20 club — homers and stolen bases in a season.

Benge may not win NL Rookie of the Year honors, with Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart regarded as the clear frontrunner, but that doesn’t diminish a season in which he’s emerged as a significant piece in the team’s future.

Last week, he established a franchise rookie record for hits, eclipsing the mark Pete Alonso set in 2019.

Benge has 162 hits.

“Anything that can be in the history book and done for the first time is something special,” Benge said. “I hold that close to my heart.”

Last place is all theirs.

The Mets needed a sweep this weekend to avoid the final indignity of their season, a last-place finish in the National League East. But that possibility disappeared with Friday’s loss.  

“If it matters to a Mets fan, it matters to me,” Green said before the game when asked about potentially avoiding last place. “But deep down, if I think about it, there’s playoffs and there’s not playoffs, and there’s nothing we’re going to do to get to that spot. 

“As we watch other teams celebrate inclusion in playoffs, that should leave a bitter taste in all of our mouths to get back there, and that’s all I’m really concerned with.”

Ronny Mauricio is scheduled to start Saturday in what could be his farewell to the Mets. 

Once a highly regarded prospect, the 25-year-old infielder has largely seen his major league opportunities dissipate because of injuries. He will be a non-tender candidate this winter in his first season of arbitration eligibility.

In 18 games for the Mets this season he owns a .454 OPS.

“He’s definitely missed a lot of time,” Green said, noting the ACL tear that cost Mauricio the 2024 season. “He’s come back. The athleticism returned. I don’t see any residual effect of that. So, from my vantage point, people come back from injuries all the time. Does it make life harder? Sure. It makes things tougher. 

“Does he have every opportunity out in front of him to still turn in a good career? Sure. He does. I think the path forward for him is you know impact the baseball consistently, and if you can minimize the chase.”

Mauricio spent six weeks on the IL this season with a thumb fracture. Following his rehab he spent most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse.

Saturday’s first pitch has been moved to 12:35 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather.

The Rockies opened their final series of the 2026 season Friday night with a 6-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Munetaka Murakami (村上 宗隆) homered twice and drove in three runs, while Sean Burke held Colorado to one run over 5.1 innings as Chicago improved to 83-77. The Rockies fell to 57-103 with the loss.

Burke earned the win to improve to 11-7, while Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) fell to 12-12 after allowing four runs over 6.2 innings.

Colorado stayed within reach for most of the night. TJ Rumfield homered, Hunter Goodman came within a few feet of his 40th home run and Sugano settled in after a difficult opening.

The Rockies just never found enough offense to make the White Sox pay.

Sugano settles after a rough start

Sugano’s night started with traffic.

Sam Antonacci opened the first with a soft liner just over Ezequiel Tovar, who had shifted toward the middle. Kyle Teel followed with a first-pitch bunt back toward the mound, but Sugano charged and fired to second, where Tovar stretched while keeping contact with the bag to get the lead runner.

The inning still got messy.

A pitch in the dirt got away from Goodman, who recovered but threw the ball into the outfield as Teel advanced. The play was scored as a wild pitch and a throwing error on Goodman, putting Teel at third.

Miguel Vargas followed with a sacrifice fly to center to give Chicago the lead.

Then Murakami got Sugano for the first time.

Sugano worked him to a 2-2 count before leaving an 86 mph slider down in the zone. Murakami sent it high and deep to right field, and the crowd reacted almost immediately.

The ball left the bat at 103.3 mph, traveled 386 feet and gave Murakami his 34th home run of the season.

The White Sox led 2-0.

It continued a season-long problem for Colorado, which entered the night having allowed more first-inning runs than any other team in baseball.

Sugano struck out Andrew Benintendi to end the inning and worked a clean second before Chicago added another run in the third.

Braden Montgomery and Antonacci opened the inning with singles, but Goodman threw out Antonacci trying to steal second. Teel then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-1.

From there, Sugano completely changed the shape of his outing.

He retired the White Sox in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and eventually set down 10 consecutive hitters.

That stretch also put Sugano on the mound for a piece of baseball history.

Colson Montgomery entered the night tied with former Rockie Mark Reynolds for the most strikeouts in a single season. Montgomery worked the count full in the fifth before Sugano threw a 93.3 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle.

Montgomery left the bat on his shoulder.

Strike three.

He simply turned and walked back to the dugout, newly infamous with his 224th strikeout of the season and the single-season record.

Sugano finished the sixth by getting Vargas to chase an 87.9 mph splitter well below the zone, completing another 1-2-3 inning.

The splitter was his most-used pitch overall at 22%, and it was also his best bat-missing offering. Sugano generated six whiffs on nine swings with it.

He mixed all seven pitches in his arsenal: splitter, sinker, curveball, four-seam fastball, cutter, slider and sweeper.

The cutter also played well, producing four whiffs on nine swings.

Sugano’s four-seamer averaged 93.1 mph, while the sinker sat at 92.8 mph. Overall, he generated 14 whiffs on 46 swings.

Sugano returned for the seventh and missed with a sweeper before coming back with a 92.9 mph sinker.

Murakami crushed it.

The ball left at 109.4 mph and traveled 412 feet to left-center for his second homer of the night and No. 35 on the season.

Sugano struck out Benintendi and got Tristan Peters to pop out before Randal Grichuk lined a single to left, ending his night.

His final line was 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K and 2 HR on 90 pitches, 57 strikes.

It was probably Sugano’s final start as a Rockie, and his chase for win No. 13 instead ended with loss No. 12.

Still, the outing did not get away from him in the way several recent starts had.

The White Sox scored early, Sugano settled in and Murakami simply beat him twice.

Burke keeps the Rockies uncomfortable

Sean Burke looked sharp immediately.

His arm action was quick, his pitches looked crisp and Colorado hitters never seemed particularly comfortable.

Jake McCarthy and Adael Amador struck out to begin the game before Goodman flew out to end a 1-2-3 first inning.

That continued throughout Burke’s outing.

Rockies hitters were frequently late on fastballs, taking emergency swings just to stay alive or getting underneath pitches and putting them harmlessly in the air.

TJ Rumfield was the exception.

Rumfield led off the second with one of Colorado’s best at-bats of the night.

Burke got him to 2-2, but Rumfield fouled off five consecutive pitches — three four-seamers, a knuckle curve and a sinker.

Burke finally went to an 86.7 mph slider on pitch No. 10.

Rumfield drove it to right.

The ball left at 101.4 mph and just cleared the wall for his 16th home run of the season.

That cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1.

Rumfield added an infield single in the fourth when a one-hopper deflected off Burke and landed behind the mound.

Otherwise, Burke was in control.

He threw his four-seam fastball 42% of the time, averaging 93.9 mph and topping out at 95.5.

Burke mixed in a knuckle curve, cutter, slider, sinker and occasional changeup. The knuckle curve produced three whiffs on seven swings, while the slider generated four on nine.

Overall, Burke produced 15 whiffs on 52 swings.

The numbers matched what the Rockies looked like at the plate. They were rarely comfortable.

Burke finally ran into trouble in the sixth.

Goodman came to the plate with one out and worked his way to 2-2 before fouling off a slider and four-seam fastball.

Burke went back to the slider.

Goodman hammered it.

The ball left at 109.4 mph and traveled 390 feet to left-center.

For a moment, it looked like home run No. 40.

Instead, it hit the wall.

Goodman settled for his 20th double of the year, missing the milestone by only a few feet.

It also ended Burke’s night.

He finished with 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 7 K.

Colorado lets its best chance slip away

Hagen Smith replaced Burke and got Rumfield to ground out, leaving Goodman at second.

A passed ball moved Goodman to third.

Then Kyle Karros appeared to strike out looking.

Colorado challenged the call through ABS, and the pitch was overturned to ball four.

Instead of the inning ending, Karros walked.

Warren Schaeffer went to Cole Carrigg to pinch-hit for Mickey Moniak, putting the switch-hitter on the right side against the left-handed Smith.

Carrigg battled.

He worked the count to 3-1, swung through a 94 mph fastball and then fouled off three straight two-strike pitches.

Smith kept attacking.

Four of his final five pitches were four-seamers.

Carrigg finally swung through a 93.2 mph fastball on pitch No. 9.

It was Colorado’s best chance to change the game.

They came away with nothing.

Chicago pulls away late

The Rockies went quietly in the seventh, and Murakami’s second homer pushed the White Sox lead to 4-1.

Colorado still had a chance.

The eighth ended that.

Juan Mejía entered and allowed four hits.

Braden Montgomery reached on a soft single, Antonacci followed with another and Teel singled to center to score Montgomery.

After Vargas flew out, Murakami added one more hit, lining a single to right to score Antonacci.

Chicago led 6-1.

Murakami finished 3-for-4 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored.

Colorado did not put another runner on base.

Bryan Hudson retired Rumfield, Karros and Carrigg in order in the ninth.

Carrigg flew out to center to end it.

Final thoughts

The Rockies finished with four hits, struck out 11 times and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Rumfield supplied the only run and went 2-for-4, keeping his late push toward a .300 batting average alive.

Goodman came painfully close to reaching 40 home runs.

Sugano recovered after the rough first three innings and gave Colorado a chance for most of the night.

Burke was simply better, and Murakami did most of the damage when Chicago needed it.

The White Sox had more to play for.

It showed.

Up next

The Rockies and White Sox continue their three-game series Saturday night at Rate Field, with first pitch scheduled for 5:10 p.m. MDT.

Colorado will send veteran left-hander José Quintana (2-3, 5.40 ERA, 22 K) to the mound.

Chicago will counter with right-hander Davis Martin (9-7, 3.84 ERA, 121 K).

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For most of the night, this looked like a typically frustrating 2026 Blue Jays loss. The starting pitching wasn’t very good, the bullpen did enough to keep them in range, and while the offence produce traffic on the bases it failed to turn that into runs.

Luckily, things flipped late. The offence woke up and chained together a crooked inning, and Tyler Rogers and Luis Varland were nails as they have been all year to bring it home.

The offence had plenty of base runners tonight, but as has so often been the case this season they struggled with runners on. Charles McAdoo lead the game off with a hard double to right. Alejandro Kirk then doubled himself, pushing the Jays in front 1-0. Two outs later, Kazuma Okamoto hit the third double of the inning to cash Kirk. In the second, a Davis Schneider hit by pitch and a Myles Straw fly ball single put two on with one out, and made it five men on in the first turn of the order for Toronto. MaDoo’s second hit of the game, a line single, loaded the bases, but Kirk grounded into a double play to prevent them from capitalizing. Walks by Okamoto and Schneider and a Nathan Lukes double loaded the bases again in the third, but again none of the runners scored. They only stranded one runner in the fourth, a Straw infield single, and went in order in the fifth.

Jose Soriano didn’t have a great night. He set the Reds down in order in the first. Things looked a little shakier in the next inning, as he hung a breaking ball to Eugenio Suarez that bounced off the facing of the second deck and then gave up a pair of singles to put the tying run on third, but a double play got him out of it. In the third, though, the first two batters reached on an opposite field single and a bunt. This time, Elly De La Cruz hit a soft liner down the left field line that dropped just fair for a double, scoring both runners. De La Cruz stole third, giving him a 30-30 season, and came home to score on a broken bat single by Sal Stewart. One batter later, Suarez lined a single to centre that moved Stewart to third. Hector Rodriguez tapped a ball back to the mound. Soriano opted to attempt the double play instead of holding Stewart at third. He got Suarez at second, but the throw over to first was too late, allowing Stewart to cross. All that left the Jays in a 5-2 hole

Brendan Cellucci took over for the fourth. He gave up one hit in a scoreless inning. In the fifth he was better, retiring the Reds in order with a pair of strikeouts.

Chad Dallas got the sixth. He gave up a pair of fairly weak singles, one a grounder that Charles McAdoo couldn’t field cleanly and one a soft liner, but avoided damage.

Nathan Lukes was hit by Nick Lodolo’s first pitch of the sixth inning. It was also his last of the night, with Luis Mey coming on in relief. The Jays managed some solid contact but no hits.

Dallas returned to start the seventh, walking De La Cruz and striking Stewart out. He then gave way to Mason Fluharty, who retired the next two Reds. The Jays would finally get back on the board in their half. Andres Gimenez, hitting for McAdoo, walked. Kirk did the same. A Mey sinker sawed Guerrero off, shattering his bat. The ball hopped in front of the plate, bounced off one of the fragments of the barrel in mid air on its way back to the mound, and ricocheted into right field. That plated Gimenez, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to two. George Springer followed with a grounder to short that Oswaldo Cabrera misplayed, loading the bases. with none out and forcing Mey from the game. Pierce Johnson fared no better, though. Kazuma Okamoto lined his first pitch off the wall in left centre, his second double of the night, tying the game at five. Lukes slashed a grounder the other way into left, scoring Springer to put the Jays in front. They failed to build on the one run margin. Brett Bateman flew out for Schneider. Clement hit a one hopper to short, Okamoto unwisely tried to go home and was thrown out easily. Finally, Josh Smith, who’d come on to pinch hit for Straw in the previous inning, struck out swinging.

Tyler Rogers came on to protect the newly acquired lead. He worked a clean inning around a ground ball single. The Jays also went quietly in the eighth, managing just a walk off Graham Ashcraft. In the ninth, Louis Varland locked down the save without drama.

Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.38), Lukes (0.15), Rogers (0.12), Varland (0.16)

Less so: Soriano (-0.38)

Two more to go. We’re firmly in “playing out the string” territory here, but there’s one last bit of drama to keep an eye on this weekend. Justin Verlander will start for the Tigers tomorrow, the last appearance of his first ballot Hall of Fame career. It’s hard to tell how much he’ll pitch, but probably not a lot given that he hasn’t even appeared in a minor league game since early June. Right now, Verlander sits 8th on the all time strikeout list with 3,554. Max Scherzer, the Jays’ most logical starter for Sunday’s game, sits just four back at 3,550. No starter has been announced for the season finale yet, but Trey Yesavage is already tabbed for tomorrow and CY Van Eyk is on the same short rest Scherzer is, so there’s no better candidate. If Scherzer goes, barring a miracle performance from Verlander the day before, he’ll have a real chance at edging out his former teammate right at the finish line of their respective careers.

Between then and now, Yesavage (5-5, 3.67) will continue his comeback from the torn meniscus that cost hinm most of this month, taking on Rhett Lowder (6-12, 6.01).

The Yankees (93-68) scored first and the bullpen held on to take Game 2 of Friday's doubleheader, 6-3, over the Baltimore Orioles (79-82).

Here are the takeaways...

--  Ryan Yarbrough served as the opener for the Yanks, striking out five Orioles over 2.1 scoreless innings of work. He allowed four singles overall and then passed the baton to Will Warren, who'll be a key bullpen piece in the postseason, in the third inning.

-- Warren let up a double in the third, but struck out two batters to keep it a scoreless game. He continued to pitch well in his long relief outing, allowing only three hits (no walks) over 3.2 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

-- The Yankees' bats managed just one hit through four innings against Brandon Young, but found a way to get across in the fifth. Austin Wells worked a two-out walk and Ryan McMahon came through with an RBI double to the right-center field gap to go up 1-0.

-- After Heliot Ramos and Luis García Jr. walked against reliever Josh Walker in the sixth inning, Spencer Jones added an insurance run with an RBI single to go up 2-0. Anthony Volpe kept it going with a two-out ground-rule double to the right-field corner, making it a 4-0 game.

The offense stayed hot in the seventh inning as McMahon (single) and Ben Rice (double) gave them runners on second and third base with no outs. Ramos and García drove both runs in with back-to-back singles, extending the lead to 6-1.

-- Brent Headrick ran into some trouble in the top of the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out. Luckily, he only let up a sacrifice fly that cut the lead to 4-1.

-- Alexander Cornielle made his MLB debut in the ninth, but let up a homer to Dylan Beavers on his second pitch as the O's trailed 6-2. He walked Pete Alonso, let up a single to Coby Mayo, and then gave up a one-out RBI double to Leody Taveras. Cornielle settled down and struck out two straight Orioles to seal the deal.

Game MVP: The Yankees' bullpen

Yarbrough, Warren, Headrick, and John Schreiber struck out 15 Orioles, allowing just one run on eight hits and three walks combined.

Highlights

Ryan McMahon opens the scoring in the 5th! pic.twitter.com/gsQgXFAyKu

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 26, 2026

An RBI single for Spencer Jones! pic.twitter.com/b6Pb9u6m8H

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 26, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Orioles will be off on Saturday due to weather and play their final game of the regular season on Sunday at 3:20 p.m.

Elmer Rodriguez (0-3, 5.40 ERA) faces Shane Baz (6-15, 4.11 ERA).

As the Cardinals and Brewers kicked off the final regular season series of the season, I couldn’t help but think back to 2011 when the Cardinals ruined the season for a highly-competitive Milwaukee team that season and went on to win the World Series. How times have changed. Friday night, it was the Brewers who were the 100 win team while the Cardinals are just waiting for vacation time after Sunday. Michael McGreevy kept the Cardinals in the game, but would the offense break through against Brewers starter Robert Gasser? Even bigger question is what would the Cardinals bullpen do.

The Brew Crew were the first to strike Friday night as they jumped on McGreevy in the bottom of the 1st inning when Mitchell led off with a single and then scored when the next batter Turang doubled into the left-centerfield gap making it 1-0 Milwaukee. I feared that the wheels might come off of Michael’s start, but he was able to reel in the Brewers and didn’t allow them another run until the 5th. More on that later.

The Cardinals briefly pulled even in the top of the 4th inning when Ivan Herrera ripped a 93 mph Gasser sinker over the left-centerfield wall for a total distance of 393 feet tying the game at 1-1.

The Brewers would regain the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning after McGreevy walked Christian Yelich to start the inning. He would advance to third when Ortiz singled to right and then scored when Frelick grounded into a fielder’s choice. 2-1 Brewers.

How many times has the 5th inning come back to bite Cardinals starters this season? You can add Friday night’s game to that list. It wasn’t an implosion (the bullpen would provide that later), but McGreevy would not make it out of the bottom of the 5th when Turang led off with a double. William Contreras then flied out to right moving Turang over to third. He scored when Jake Bauers singled to center upping the Milwaukee advantage to 3-1. It would continue to get messy after Yelich reached on an infield hit. Two batters later, Lara walked to load the bases and that would end McGreevy’s night as Oli Marmol brought in Brycen Mautz. Jackson Chourio pinch-hit for Frelick and Mautz promptly walked him gifting the Brewers another run making it 4-1. It could have been much worse as Brycen got behind in the count against Hamilton 3-1, but came back to strike him out and end the inning with minimal damage.

After Brycen Mautz shut down the Brewers in the bottom of the 6th in order, the Cardinals would come storming back in the top of the 7th inning when Jordan Walker led off with a monster 411 foot home run over the centerfield wall reducing the Brewers lead to just 4-2.

After Leo Bernal singled to center following Walker’s home run, they would eliminate the Milwaukee lead completely when Alec Burleson would be brought off of the bench to pinch-hit for Jose Fermin. He slammed a 414 foot Burly bomb high off the right field foul pole tying the game at 4-4.

The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen would need to keep the team in the game and Luis Gastelum did his job in the bottom of the 7th inning with only one walk to Ortiz as he didn’t allow any threat of a rally. The bottom of the 8th inning would be a different story. Gastelum gave up a leadoff hit to Chourio to start and he would be taken out of the game for Justin Bruihl. Bruihl’s first act would be to nail Hamilton with a pitch. Mitchell would reach first when his sacrifice bunt would be muffed by Justin loading the bases for Milwaukee. Turang then crushed the Cardinals with a 2-RBI single to left making it 6-4 Milwaukee. The worst was yet to come. Cade Winquest was brought into the game to try and keep the Brewers within 2 and he was not successful and that’s a massive understatement. Mitchell would be caught leaning off second base, but in the rundown Winquest heaved the ball over third base allowing both runners to advance to second and third. William Contreras followed that misplay with a single to left scoring another making it 7-4 Brewers. Bauers then flied out to left for a sacrifice fly giving Milwaukee another run upping the lead to 8-4 Brewers. Winquest would eventually get out of the inning, but the damage had been done.

Barring a miracle, you could sense the game was all but over with Trevor Megill coming in to close out the game for the Brewers. Leo Bernal led off the Cardinals 9th with a solid single up the middle. MLB RBI leader Alec Burleson was next, but all he could manage was a fly-out to right for the first out. Thomas Saggese flew out to center for the second out. Masyn Winn was the Cardinals final hope in what was really a hopeless game. He whiffed on 3 pitches and that was the game.

Final score – Brewers 8, Cardinals 4

The St. Louis Cardinals will invade American Family Field again Saturday night for game 2 and hope for better results against the Milwaukee Brewers. Quinn Mathews will put on the pearls for his final start of the season Saturday night for St. Louis while it will be former Cardinals starter Dustin May taking the mound for the Brewers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10pm central time Saturday night and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

Pete Alonso still has a bone to pick with David Stearns.

Ahead of one of the Orioles’ doubleheader games against the Yankees on Friday, Alonso was reportedly seen donning a shirt which included an explicit statement he made to Stearns while still on the Mets, according to Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner.

The shirt, produced by sports apparel brand BreakingT, mainly celebrates Alonso’s 300th career home run, but includes the quote: “When my career is being evaluated for the Hall of Fame years from now, you’ll still be fiddling with your f–king formulas.”

Alonso was also seen wearing the shirt at Camden Yards earlier this month, photos from BreakingT’s social media show.

He said the quote — which was first reported by The Post’s Jon Heyman back in May — to Stearns during heated negotiations following the 2024 season.

The five-time All-Star was coming off a down season in 2024, posting a slash line of .240/.329/.459 with 34 home runs, the lowest of Alonso’s career in a full season, and the Mets were looking to pay him roughly $40 million for two years.

Stearns and Mets owner Steve Cohen responded to Alonso’s comment by suggesting they would try and work out a deal, per Heyman.

Alonso’s cutthroat tactics seemingly worked, with him and the Mets eventually agreeing on a two-year, $54 million deal, with an opt-out after the 2025 season, which he took and later signed with Baltimore on a five-year, $155 deal last offseason.

On the same day as wearing the controversial shirt, Alonso belted two home runs during the Orioles’ 10-2 win over the Yankees, including a 471-foot blast in the seventh inning — tied for the second-longest of his eight-year career.

Despite a slow start, Alonso has enjoyed a relatively successful first year in Baltimore, putting up a slash line of .267/.363/.522 and currently is the American League leader in home runs (43).

Alonso made his return to Citi Field earlier this month, where he was met with enormous cheers when he hit his 300th carrer home run off ex-teammate Kodai Senga to tie the game in the ninth inning — prompting a curtain call from the Mets crowd.

“I am beyond thankful for all the support and it was really fun to play,” Alonso said following the Orioles’ series against the Mets. “I feel like New York will always be a place where it feels like homecoming – it doesn’t matter whether it’s here or at Yankee Stadium.

“The whole city of New York is meaningful to us.”

After beating the Yankees in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader by a 10-2 score, the Orioles came out for the nightcap with a lineup that featured Jeremiah Jackson as the cleanup hitter, Rece Hinds as the right fielder, and included Yohel Pozo and José Barrero at the bottom of the order. As you already know, it did not go very well. The Orioles lost the game, 6-3.

The players who were given the assignment of playing the game were trying to win. I believe this is true every day and has been true every day of this disappointing Orioles season. Yet it is hard to escape the conclusion that the people who make the decisions on who plays where and when were not all that interested in whether or not they won the second game. This may end up being the last game of the season, with the possibility of the same rain that led to the Friday doubleheader washing out the meaningless Sunday contest.

The particulars almost don’t matter. It was another one of those dumb games. Not only dumb but dumb in a way that was brought about in part by guys who don’t even belong on any major league roster anywhere, even a bad team’s roster. It feels bad to pile on them sometimes. It’s not their fault that Mike Elias screwed things up to the point that they were needed.

It wasn’t all bad. Brandon Young put a nice bow on his season by holding the Yankees to one run over five innings. If you want to pick nits, sure, he walked too many guys with three free passes, but he only gave up two hits and he struck out six batters. He finishes the year with a 3.56 ERA. Coby Mayo had two hits. So did Christian Franklin. Pete Alonso was on base twice and scored a run on a sacrifice fly. He’s good, you guys.

Also, Pozo stole a base when he took off running on an 0-2 count to Dylan Beavers where he probably figured Beavers was about to strike out, and Pozo was super excited about it. That was fun. It was the first stolen base of Pozo’s MLB career. Beavers hit a garbage time home run in the ninth inning, his second homer of the day after a grand slam that blew open the first game.

Then, there was everything else. It’s not like the Orioles lacked for chances. They kept getting guys on base. They just weren’t bringing them home. The team left 13 men on base, went 1-13 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 17 times. Hinds had multiple bad plays in the field that led to an inning continuing and runs scoring. He also went 0-5 with five strikeouts. Josh Walker had a rough outing, not helped by Hinds. Anthony Nunez had a rough outing that had nothing to do with Hinds.

The Orioles have lost a lot of games like this over the course of this season. Perhaps either due to rain or due to playing better, this will be the last one that we have to watch.

To be fair to the guys, they ended up with the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning after Leody Taveras got an RBI double. They were battling to the end. The batter who came up next after that? It was Hinds. There was not a pinch hitter for Hinds with one out in the ninth inning when he was the tying run. He struck out for a fifth time. The players who played were trying. The people who put them on the field were perhaps less motivated to win than I would prefer.

The team is now 79-82. They are guaranteed a losing season. They are not guaranteed to finish in last place in the AL East. That depends on whether the Blue Jays win their final two games on Saturday and Sunday. They sit at 78-82 right now.

Shane Baz and Elmer Rodríguez are the scheduled starting pitchers for the 3:20 game on Sunday that may or may not happen. If this game is it, you could not write a better coda for the 2026 Orioles season.

The Dodgers (97-62) open a three-game series against the Giants (65-94) Friday night in San Francisco, wrapping up the regular season. 

Tarik Skubal (11-7, 2.85 ERA, 0.99 WHIP) makes his last regular season start for the Dodgers before he gears up for the postseason. 

Yunior Marté (0-1, 4.66 ERA, 1.40 WHIP) starts for the Giants.

Lineups

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Giants
• Ballpark: Oracle Park, San Francisco
• Start time: 7:15 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)