Category: MLB

The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers have both clinched playoff spots, and both are currently on pace to be the top seed in their respective leagues. They have done it despite each having a lower payroll than the Royals. The Brewers spent $145.6 million – less than half what the last place Mets spent – while the Rays had the third-lowest payroll in baseball at $96 million.

Whether those financial limitations will limit their postseason success remains to be seen. But there is no question the Royals should be looking at what both teams have accomplished during the regular season. After two modest winning seasons, the Royals have regressed badly into a last place finish. Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have shown that it is possible to win a lot of games without spending like a large-market team, a model the Royals should try to emulate.

A different approach to offense

The Brewers are second in baseball in runs scored while the Rays are eleventh. They have scored runs despite a lack of power. The Rays are tied with the Royals for 22nd in home runs, and the Brewers are dead last. Instead, they score runs the old-fashioned way – by hitting the ball on the ground, getting on base, and stealing bases. Batting average has become a bit passé, but the Brewers and Rays are tied for tops in baseball in that category.

How are they hitting for average in an era where batting averages are near historic lows? First of all, they put the ball in play. While strikeout rates climb, the Rays lead baseball in contact rate at 81.8 percent, while the Brewers are ninth. The Royals are fourth in contact rate, yet don’t score as many runs. Why not?

The Rays and Brewers put the ball on the ground. The Brewers lead baseball in groundball rate at 46.9 percent, the Rays are fifth. The Royals are second-to-last at 39 percent. The Royals moved in the fences, and while it has led to more home runs, the team is not suddenly putting the ball over the fence at a high rate. The Brewers are hitting .260 on ground balls (second-best in baseball), while the Royals are hitting .258, not far behind. But the Brewers have over 300 more plate appearances that have resulted in a ground ball. Meanwhile, the Royals are hitting .203 on fly balls and have the second-most plate appearances that have resulted in a fly ball. If your flyballs aren’t leaving the park, they’re likely not helping much.

The Brewers and Rays also hit for average by using all fields. As the league has increasingly become pull-happy, they have made a habit of going the other way. The Brewers are deliberately letting the ball travel deep before making contact, as measured by their bat orientation, allowing them to slap the ball to the opposite field. They have the lowest flyball pull rate in over a decade. And as Mike Petriello writes, by using all fields, the Brewers make themselves impossible to defend against.

Putting the ball in play, on the ground, and going to the opposite field may also be part of why the Rays and Brewers are two of the top three teams in hitting with runners in scoring position. It may also represent a bit of luck. One-third of Brewers home runs have come with runners in scoring position.

A higher batting average combined with a healthy walk rate gets at what teams need to win – runners on base. The Brewers lead baseball with a .340 on-base percentage and have the highest walk rate at 10.6 percent. They have just one hitter with at least 150 plate appearances with a walk rate under 8 percent (Sal Frelick at 7.8 percent). The Royals have five such hitters (Jac Caglianone, Starling Marte, Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and Salvador Perez). The lone Rays starter with a low walk rate is Chandler Simpson, who is hitting .309. The Royals have historically eschewed the ability to get on base as a skill. They have finished in the top half of the league in on-base percentage just twice in the last 20 years, with one of those coming when they won a championship in 2015.

When runners get on base, they wreak havoc on the bases. The Rays and Brewers are both among the top four in baseball in stolen bases. Seven different Brewers players are in double digits in steals.

The Royals have been seemingly chasing more home runs. It makes sense, home runs score runs immediately! But home run hitters are expensive. The philosophy of Moneyball was to zig while others zag. If high-contact, opposite-field, groundball hitters who can run are undervalued and can help score runs, the Royals need to be on that train.

The point isn’t even that this is the approach the Royals should follow. It’s that they need to be ahead of the curve. There are many different ways to score. The Brewers and Rays are showing that taking a different approach than the big-market teams can succeed.

Find gems in other organizations

Hall of Fame executive Pat Gillick frequently talked about the “many rivers” that teams must find talent in. Teams that win without high payrolls can’t rely on expensive free agents as their primary means of improving the roster. Instead, the Brewers and Rays are looking for underrated players in other organizations and acquiring them through shrewd trades, minor league free agency, waiver claims, and the Rule 5 draft.

Jake Bauers and Andrew Vaughn were each first basemen for other teams that had failed to live up to expectations. The Brewers acquired each in separate trades and this year they lead all teams in offensive production from first base. All-Star closer Trevor Megill was acquired from the Twins for a non-prospect. Chad Patrick, a 2.1 rWAR reliever, was acquired from the A’s for journeyman infielder Abraham Toro.

The Rays have been equally shrewd. They grabbed former Cuban outfield prospect Victor Mesa Jr. from the Marlins for a lottery ticket prospect, and he has become a 2.8 rWAR player in just 74 games. Reliever Kevin Kelly was a Rule 5 pick. Starting second baseman Richie Palacios was a journeyman acquired from the Cardinals for veteran reliever Andrew Kittredge.

But their biggest steal came at the expense of another smart organization, the Guardians. Little reported at the time, the Rays acquired a hard-hitting 18-year-old infielder for a promising young pitcher named Tobias Myers. The hitter blossomed with the Rays development team, and now Junior Caminero is an MVP candidate.

There is no silver bullet to finding talent. The advantage comes from being willing and able to look everywhere. You can see the Royals trying to do this in a lost season as they rotate different arms into their bullpen, looking for a solution. But it shouldn’t take a losing season to look for more talent. The Brewers and Rays have built organizations that constantly search for players they believe are undervalued, then rely on their scouting and development departments to figure out what they can do with them. They don’t need every bet to pay off because they keep making bets.

Sell high on players

What is perhaps most surprising about the success of the Brewers and Rays is that it has come after they recently traded away some major parts of their rosters. Last winter, the Brewers traded star pitcher Freddy Peralta, starting third baseman Caleb Durbin, outfielder Isaac Collins and reliever Nick Mears to the Royals. The Rays traded All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielders Josh Lowe and Jake Mangum, and pitcher Shane Baz over the offseason.

The Caleb Durbin trade is perhaps the best example of how the Brewers operate. Milwaukee acquired Durbin from the Yankees in 2024 after selling high on All-Star closer Devin Williams and shipping him to New York. Durbin then had an excellent rookie season, finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .256/.326/.404 with 11 home runs, 53 RBI and 18 stolen bases. Rather than becoming attached to a player they had just developed into a valuable major-leaguer, the Brewers traded Durbin to Boston this winter for pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton. Harrison and Drohan are now part of Milwaukee’s pitching staff, while Hamilton has contributed as a versatile infielder. In other words, the Brewers essentially turned one year of Devin Williams into a major-league closer’s replacement, a promising young starting pitcher and additional organizational depth.

Not all of these trades have produced immediate major-league value for either organization. Many of the returns consist of prospects who are still in the minors or players who have made relatively little impact in the majors. The Brewers also sold high on Isaac Collins after one surprisingly good rookie year, but they received Angel Zerpa from the Royals, and he has been hurt most of the year.

And yet the Brewers and Rays haven’t fallen apart. They have continued to win because their organizations are built to absorb the loss of established players, while building for sustainable success over the long term. In recent years, the Rays have traded away Isaac Paredes, Randy Arozarena, and Jason Adam, while the Brewers have traded away Williams and Corbin Burnes. They are constantly adding players, developing them and creating enough depth that they can afford to trade from the major-league roster when the opportunity arises.

Trading players away when their value is at its greatest takes being realistic about future projections and player evaluations of your own team. In finance, the disclaimer is “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” That applies to baseball player performance as well.

Develop a great farm system

The Rays and Brewers also demonstrate why a strong farm system is about more than finding the next superstar. Building depth gives an organization options. Both teams have been able to trade established major leaguers, graduate prospects to the big leagues and use prospects in trades to address major-league needs without exhausting their supply of talent. The Rays traded eight prospects from their Top 30 at the deadline this year to acquire Freddy Peralta, Liam Hicks, and Tyler Wells, yet MLB Pipeline still ranked their farm system second in baseball afterward. The Brewers have graduated several players to the majors this year and traded prospects while still maintaining one of baseball’s deepest systems.

How do they do it? Neither organization relies solely on high draft picks. Milwaukee hasn’t had a top-10 pick since 2017, yet MLB Pipeline ranked its system #1 entering this season. Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski, a fireballer who grew up in the Kansas City area, was selected with the 63rd pick in the 2022 draft and is already a two-time All-Star in just his second year. Cooper Pratt was a sixth-round pick out of high school in 2023, and he is already their starting shortstop. The international scouting department signed star outfielder Jackson Chourio to a $1.8 million bonus when he was just 16 and the organization has been aggressively spending in Latin America. Baseball America writes that it is “hard to find a team that has done as well as the Brewers in Latin America over the last five years” despite avoiding some of the highest price free agents in that market.

The Royals have been criticized for their first-round busts, but the Rays have their share of misses as well. But they continue to find value despite those misses. Assistant general manager Kevin Ibach explained that their model is to churn the roster, bringing in more prospects for the pipeline.

“We have to be hyper-transactional. We have to always have a pipeline of talent that we can infuse into the big league level. Every offseason brings new faces and I think that getting to know those players, it’s exciting to see them and get them acclimated in camp here.”

Organizational depth creates flexibility. The Brewers and Rays have each been hit by injuries this year. Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester have missed significant time from the Brewers’ rotation, and Chourio and Sal Frelick each missed significant time. The Rays have missed outfielder Gavin Lux and pitchers Shane McClanahan, and Ryan Pepiot. Those injuries are inevitable over the course of a 162-game season. What separates organizations is how well they can absorb them.

The Royals aren’t going to suddenly become the Yankees or Dodgers. Their payroll will always have limitations, and those limitations make it even more important that they maximize the resources they do have. There is no “one secret trick” that will lead to winning. It takes a complete organizational approach, great talent identification, and a willingness to constantly look for ways to improve. This offseason will test whether the Royals can get closer to that approach or whether they will continue to backslide into obscurity.

I figured this would be Max Scherzer’s last MLB start, but the Jays are talking about having him start (on short rest). I don’t see the point. Why would that be an idea? Is it some idea he can pass Justin Verlander for eighth on the all-time strikeout list. Verlander is 10 ahead of Max.

I guess it doesn’t matter, Max will have long rest before his next start. I wonder if he is thinking of another season?

Vlad is out for game one, but apparently might play in game two. Again I don’t see why, give him an extra day.

Well…..cross that out, Vlad is now in the lineup for game one batting second.

Yohendrick Pinango, Chase Lee, CJ Van Eyk and John Klein are all with the team. One or some of them could be active for game two. I’d imagine Pinango would be dependent on Bateman’s status. Van Eyk would be the one who could give them the most innings, so I’d say he’s the most likely to be active for game two.

GO JAYS GO.

Today is almost certainly going to be the day that the Orioles are mathematically eliminated from the postseason. It could happen as soon as this first game of their doubleheader. The tragic number is one. Next time the Orioles lose, it’s over. Next time the White Sox win, it’s over. Chicago doesn’t play until 7:40. The Orioles could lose twice before the White Sox game finishes. Maybe they will surprise us and win both games, which would be fun because then they will have eliminated the Blue Jays, whose tragic number is also 1.

Separate from anything that’s going on with this game itself, I think it’s a real insult to fans to pull a split doubleheader on the last home date of the season. They should have just done a single admission. It’s not like these are two sellouts where they would have a hard time squeezing everyone in. Paid attendance for both games might barely reach half capacity of the stadium; Monday’s game had 12,067 tickets sold. Alas, here we are.

There is not much that the Orioles can do over their final five games to make this season feel like anything other than a failure. That cake is baked. They have to run the table just to reach .500. That sucks, relative to preseason expectations.

This doesn’t mean they can’t play fun games in these five games and make us happy we watched that game. If Pete Alonso hits a couple more homers, Gunnar Henderson and Coby Mayo continue hot streaks to end their seasons, and so on, that could make the idea of next year feel a tiny bit better than it did after the team flopped at the beginning of this month.

The Orioles snuck one more roster move in ahead of the doubleheader. Samuel Basallo is now on the concussion injured list. Heston Kjerstad is back on the active roster.

News unrelated to this starting lineup: Jackson Holliday told reporters that he is having surgery on his left wrist next week. According to manager Craig Albernaz, it’s a TFCC tear. That stands for (I just Googled and learned this) a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear.

Orioles lineup

1. Dylan Beavers – LF
2. Pete Alonso – 1B
3. Gunnar Henderson – SS
4. Coby Mayo – DH
5. Christian Encarnacion-Strand – 3B
6. Colton Cowser – CF
7. Jeremiah Jackson – 2B
8. Leody Taveras – RF
9. Carlos Narváez – C

Chris Bassitt is the starting pitcher for the first game of the doubleheader. That means it’ll be another old guy starting pitching matchup: The Jays are starting Max Scherzer.

Blue Jays starting lineup

1. Nathan Lukes – RF
2. Josh Smith – LF
3. Kazuma Okamoto – 3B
4. George Springer – DH
5. Sean Keys – 1B
6. Andrés Giménez – SS
7. Brandon Valenzuela – C
8. Myles Straw – CF
9. Ernie Clement – 2B

Cito still sucks.

Detroit Tigers (74-84) vs. Washington Nationals (74-84)

Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:Federal Baseball
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (10-11, 4.06 ERA) vs. LHP Richard Lovelady (3-4, 3.86 ERA)

Aaron Judge will not play in the Wild Card Series next week. The Yankees spent a good chunk of Monday laying cloud cover for the announcement that was all but confirmed Tuesday morning. Aaron Boone told us the superstar has a moderate grade — which is not a medical term — strain of his calf, in particular the now-infamous soleus muscle, and a PPP injection would leave Judge off his feet for the next couple of days.

Judge himself had been far more coy than the inner circle of journos was willing to be, swearing he would be available for the team in the postseason. Maybe he genuinely believed that; pro athletes aren’t necessarily known for their introspection. Maybe he’s just incredibly canny with his responses; we’ve seen before that he’s perfected the non-answer to the degree that he could be a US Senator upon retirement. Either way, it’s become clear that Judge gets to operate under a different set of rules than the other guys on the roster.

It wasn’t long before we learned that Max Fried didn’t have any tendon damage, but instead a bone bruise in his elbow. We knew that Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s thumb sprain was reasonably minor almost immediately, and indeed Jazz was activated from the IL while I wrote this. We get detailed info dumps on the physical health of men we’ve never met seemingly on demand, except from Aaron Judge.

I’m not sure we should fault him for that either. It’s always been a little weird that we know so much about these people’s bodies. If I call out sick from my day job, my boss is not allowed to ask what’s wrong with me unless there’s reasonable evidence that I’m abusing the system. Even if I need to go on short-term disability there are rules and regulations around what exactly is shared with my employer. Professional athletes are not regular boring employees like me, of course, but then again the reasons often trotted out for why we know the intimate details of a stranger’s anatomy so well are folly too.

Michael Kay on his radio show Monday lamented the gambler, which is ironic because he does a pretty good job in the YES booth of downplaying the DraftKings ad reads he’s compelled to give. People are going to be betting on these games and they deserve to know the exact medical diagnosis of players we were all pretty sure weren’t going to be playing anyway, the Voice of the Yankees says. I don’t care about the gambler, and any moral hazard caused by someone within the Yankee org taking advantage of insider information would be resolved by not letting people bet on every single pitch thrown in an MLB season.

As to the fanbase and general interest in the last week of the season, as well as a Wild Card Series that is shaping up to be more of a whimper than a bang, the compelling factor is whether Aaron Judge will play or not. We know he won’t. Having the exact grade is irrelevant, Judge ain’t gonna be there. The exact grade of the strain will determine whether or not the Captain is back for a potential ALDS showdown with the Rays, but if you lose two of three to Boston next week, the grade of the strain becomes irrelevant again.

This isn’t to downplay the annoyance people can find in Judge’s coyness, but rather to encourage other players to adopt it. We need to know someone is hurt, and how long to reasonably expect them to be unavailable, since that informs whether someone might buy a ticket or tune into a given game. It’s probably a good idea to schedule out possible rehab assignments, as MiLB teams rely on those attendance boosts from a big-leaguer making appearances. That’s about it. I don’t need to know about the exact degree of testicular torsion from the backup catcher.

Prior to last night’s game, the Texas Rangers announced that outfielder Joc Pederson had been placed on the 10 day injured list due to the broken bone in his hand that he suffered on September 12. To replace Pederson on the active roster, the Rangers activated Michael Helman from the 60 day injured list. To make room for Helman on the 40 man roster, the Rangers moved Cal Quantrill from the 15 day injured list to the 60 day injured list.

It is a disappointing end to what was a very solid season from Pederson, who slashed .235/.329/.487 in 432 plate appearances covering 136 games as the team’s primary DH against righthanded pitching. The Rangers had held off on putting him on the injured list in the hope that he would recover to the point he could resume hitting, but that didn’t happen. The hope is that, if the Rangers make the playoffs, Pederson would be physically able to hit by then, and could be on the team’s playoff roster.

The Quantrill move to the 60 day injured list means that he is done for the 2026 season, and won’t be eligible to return even in any potential playoff series. This is disappointing but not surprising, as a lat strain, which is what Quantrill landed on the injured list with, is the sort of thing that is going to generally sideline a pitcher for a couple of months.

As for Helman, he last played in the majors on June 13, having gone on the injured list with multiple fractures in his hands and fingers. He played in five games for Round Rock on a rehab assignment prior to being activated from the injured list. He presumably is a late game pinch runner/defensive replacement option.

After last night’s rare low scoring win, the Nats are in position to claim a series win. This afternoon contest in Detroit will be the last road game of the season for the Nats. The boys will look to finish on a high note as they head home for a final series.

With a lefty on the mound, the Nats are loading up on right handed bats. James Wood and CJ Abrams are the only lefties in the lineup. Jacob Young and Harry Ford will return to the lineup in this contest. Dylan Crews moves to left field as Daylen Lile gets the day off. Richard Lovelady will be the opener in what will be a bullpen game.

lineup for your viewing pleasure

→ https://t.co/3oYxA8Hsm0pic.twitter.com/CeOqHnHo7o

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 23, 2026

A couple big names are back in the lineup for the Tigers. After sitting yesterday, Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler are back. Zach McKinstry will also make his first start of the series. Javier Baez will be getting the day off. Framber Valdez has had an up and down first season in Detroit, but he has been better lately. He is on the mound this afternoon. 

159/162

⚾️ 1:10 PM ET
📺 @WatchDSN
📻 @971theticketxyt
🏟️ Comerica Park pic.twitter.com/yiRbyl6bOk

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 23, 2026

Game Info:

Stadium: Comerica Park

Time: 1:10 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

It is wild that this is the last road game of the year, but here we are. Hopefully we can finish the road slate with a curly W. CJ Abrams has been swinging it well, so he is one to watch this afternoon. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

LOS ANGELES — Last year at this time, Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart were both recovering from surgeries and unavailable to pitch. They were around the team but unable to contribute during the stretch run and postseason. This year, both veteran right-handers are two key cogs in an increasingly deep Dodgers bullpen and an important part of their October puzzle.

Phillips had Tommy John surgery in June 2025, wiping out the last half of last season and the first half of this one. When he returned from the injured list in July, the Dodgers were cautious in his usage, not using him on back-to-back days for his first four weeks, and used him on one day rest only four times during that stretch.

The results were spotty at first, allowing runs in five of his first seven appearances, including an uncharacteristic four home runs in such a short span. Since then, Phillips has allowed runs in only three of his last 21 appearances, and the lone home run surrendered was last Monday to Elly De La Cruz, which seems to be a rite of passage for everybody these days.

“Evan as you would expect, the first handful of outings were inconsistent coming off Tommy John, but I’d say the last [few] have been kind of who he is, and it’s been fun to see,” manager Dave Roberts said recently. “There’s a two-seamer, there’s a four-seamer, and some sweepers getting some awkward swings, some chase. That’s been good, and his command has been a lot better, too.”

Phillips in his 28 games has 28 strikeouts against only three unintentional walks. Since the start of August, the Dodgers have used Phillips more aggressively, pitching on back-to-back days five times, and he pitched three times in four days in three different stretches, and during that span has a 2.30 ERA and 2.46 FIP.

“I appreciate what they’ve done, trying to build me up, plus also protect me, plus giving me advantageous lanes while also challenging me,” Phillips said. “It’s been great so far, and I definitely feel like I’m coming closer and closer to that best version of myself that I have been and continue to strive to be.”

Stewart, a sixth-round draft pick of the Dodgers in 2014, was reacquired by the team at the 2025 trade deadline, but he pitched in only four games for them before succumbing to right shoulder debridement surgery in September. This year the right-hander has a 2.45 ERA and 2.53 xERA in his 27 games, with 24 strikeouts and seven unintentional walks in 25 2/3 innings, including a scoreless first inning to start Tuesday night’s bullpen-game shutout of the San Diego Padres.

“When Brock’s healthy, he’s as good as anyone we have,” Roberts said Tuesday. “For us, it’s just trying to manage him the right way and keep him strong and healthy. He’s been great.”

“That’s very cool to hear. I just go out there and throw it, that’s literally all I focus on. But people tell me that my — you know, I throw five pitches, which helps as a reliever,” Stewart said. “They tell me my stuff is pretty good, and it’s always nice to hear that. But I don’t know, I just go out there and throw it, try to compete as best I can, and hope it works out.

Roberts wasn’t wrong. Since returning to the majors in 2023 with the Minnesota Twins, Stewart has a 2.45 ERA and 2.78 xERA, which ranks 10thand ninth, respectively, among the 576 major league pitchers with at least 100 innings over the last four years. Tarik Skubal, with two Cy Young Awards during that stretch, has a 2.50 ERA and 2.73 xERA, for example.

But staying on the field has been a problem for Stewart, who this season alone has been on the injured list three different times — recovering from shoulder surgery, bone spur in his left foot, and shoulder discomfort — inactive for a total of 95 games. Since 2023, Stewart has also been on the injured list with elbow soreness, shoulder tendinitis, a shoulder strain, a hamstring strain, and shoulder inflammation, limited to just 106 2/3 total innings over the last four seasons.

“I feel good, but I’ve told everybody though, one day at a time. I’ve been hurt a lot so I always try to take things one day at a time. But I’m happy with the way I feel, happy with the way I felt today,” Stewart said. “Getting close to the finish line, but happy with how I feel, happy with how the stuff is coming out. I feel like I’m in a good spot and can hopefully help out.”

Stewart has pitched in the postseason only once, in three games over two series with the Minnesota Twins in 2023. Phillips was an October stalwart for the Dodgers since he was acquired on a waiver claim in 2021. In 12 appearances for the Dodgers in the playoffs, Phillips has yet to allow a run, over 15 1/3 innings, with 21 strikeouts and six unintentional walks. Phillips missed out on the World Series in 2024 with a right rotator cuff injury suffered during the NLCS, and was sidelined for all of last October.

“I love pitching in the postseason, I love competing with these guys. In 2024, missing out on the World Series, but I tried to dig in on the fact that I helped us get there, and played quite a large part in the Division Series and Championship Series. Obviously I want to see it all to the end, and help us carry that trophy off the field,” Philips said. “I’m just as eager as ever. Fortunate that I feel healthy at this time, and just trying to build on that, continue to chip away, and be the best I can when it matters most.”

This season, only Tanner Scott, Edwin Díaz, and Alex Vesia have a higher average-leverage index than Phillips and Stewart among Dodgers relievers. Phillips and Stewart have each saved a game this year, and Phillips has done so in the past with 46 saves with the Dodgers. Roberts said he’d feel comfortable with either Phillips or Stewart getting a save opportunity in October, along with a group that includes Tanner Scott and the just-activated Roki Sasaki.

“This year, more than any other year, I think there’s more guys we feel comfortable closing out games,” Roberts said.

The initial plan called for Roki Sasaki to pitch an inning or two as an opener.

Sasaki had other ideas.

“I said I wanted to pitch out of the bullpen,” Sasaki said in Japanese.

Because Sasaki will be deployed as a reliever in the playoffs, he figured he should spend the remainder of the regular season becoming reacquainted with the role.

So instead of throwing the first and second innings of the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night, Sasaki pitched the fourth.

Returning from a month-long stay on the injured list, Sasaki pitched in relief for the first time this season.

What was most memorable about his night wasn’t that he struck out two batters or threw six of his 20 pitches faster than 99 mph. Rather, what was most striking was his embrace of his move out of the Dodgers’ rotation.

Sasaki was reluctant to make the switch last year, doing so only as a last-ditch effort to salvage an otherwise disastrous rookie season. The decision made him an October hero, as the team’s lack of options made him the closer almost by default.

He returned to the rotation this year and was 5-5 with a 4.56 earned-run average through his first 23 games, all of them starts. His form improved over the course of the season, and he was 2-0 with a 3.05 ERA in seven starts after the All-Star break. But in the last of those starts, which was on Aug. 26 in Atlanta, he developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.

Starting games was a source of pride for Sasaki. When he agreed to try pitching in relief last year, he made the Dodgers promise him they would use him as a starter this season.

Sasaki didn’t require as much convincing when team officials started talking to him about a role change on the Dodgers’ recent trip to Cincinnati.

The Dodgers will use a four-man rotation in the playoffs, and they have four Cy Young Award-caliber pitchers in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal and Tyler Glasnow. Sasaki could do the math. If he was going to pitch in the postseason, it would be as a reliever.

“I think it’s important to make the roster,” Sasaki said.

Something else: The Dodgers kept their word about him starting games, and Sasaki wanted to repay them.

“In the first half of the season, they used me as a starter even when I wasn’t pitching well,” he said. 

Sasaki didn’t pitch more than five innings in any of his first five starts. His ERA at that point was 6.35. His fastball velocity was down and his command was non-existent.

The Dodgers would have been justified in removing him from the rotation.

They didn’t.

They could have sent him to the minor leagues.

They didn’t.

That meant something to Sasaki.

“This time,” Sasaki said, “I want to be able to contribute to the team in whatever shape.”

The feelings point to a growing trust that has developed between Sasaki and the Dodgers.

At this stage of the season last year, they didn’t seem to be on the same page. As he shined as their closer last October, Dodgers officials and coaches told stories about how they helped Sasaki rediscover his 100-mph fastball. Sasaki downplayed the team’s role in his resurgence, saying he figured out what he was doing wrong by watching videos of himself pitching in high school.

Sasaki is said to have become more open to instruction this season, which contributed to an improved fastball as well as the incorporation of a different variation of his signature forkball.

He is also physically stronger than he did last year. Fatigue was a factor for him in the postseason, and by the World Series, he looked like a spent cartridge. To close out Game 7 of the World Series, manager Dave Roberts went to Yamamoto, who was pitching his third inning in relief a day after making a six-inning start.

Sasaki looks more capable of shouldering a reliever’s schedule and workload.

Sasaki closing games in the upcoming postseason is “certainly an option,” manager Dave Roberts said. 

Edwin Diaz has worked his way back into ninth-inning consideration by posting three consecutive scoreless appearances since his return from his latest IL stint. Tanner Scott has been the Dodgers’ primary closer this season, but Roberts said there could be instances in which the left-hander is used earlier in games in high-leverage situations.

Sasaki said he would pitch whenever asked.

That could be determined by how he looks over this final week of the regular season. Roberts said he will likely pitch next on Friday in San Francisco.

This time around, there isn’t any hesitation on the part of Sasaki. This time around, he really wants to do this.

The Cleveland Guardians got a key win against the Boston Red Sox last night, leaving their magic number to clinch a postseason berth at two. What should Guardians’ fans be watching for starting with tonight’s primetime matchup with the Red Sox and Sonny Gray?

First, obviously, the Guardians are trying to beat Boston, again, while rooting for the Mariners to GET THEIR CRAP TOGETHER and beat the Astros and the Mets to remember they have a billion dollar roster for one more night and beat the Rangers again. If either of those events happen, the Guardians’ magic number reduces by one more. So… a win over the Red Sox and a loss by either Houston or Texas and Cleveland has punched their ticket to October baseball. The Astros will start Ethan Pecko who doesn’t strike anyone out and won’t be out there more than like three innings at the most, so, that helps, but the Mariners are starting George Kirby who has a 4.24 ERA. Come on, Seattle, play spoiler for those hated ‘Stros. The Mets will start Nolan McLean who is good and has a 3.18 ERA while the Rangers do a sort of bullpen game starting Cody Bradford who has a 4.19 ERA. So, there is hope all around here.

As for the Guardians tonight, they face old nemesis Sonny Gray. In the past three years, Gray has pitched 15 innings against the Guardians to the tune of an 0.60 ERA. It’s a small sample size! But, of course, Gray does have a 2.82 ERA this season. He is, unfortunately, very good. So, the Guardians will need to find a hero or two offensively. Petey Halpin hit a home run off Gray earlier this season; start him today. Give it a shot. Travis Bazzana has a .429 wOBA, Austin Hedges and Brayan Rocchio have .349 wOBA’s against him, and in 30 pitches seen Jo Adell has a .300 wOBA against him. Is that good? No. But it’s way better than the rest of the Guardians’ options have against Gray. It’s probably all mostly small sample size; Gray is just good and they need to put up good at-bats and come through with runners in scoring position.

ALSO, of course, it would be a good time right now for Foster Griffin to really put forth the kind of effort the Guardians were hoping for when they acquired him at the trade deadline. Unfortunately, the Red Sox do have a 107 wRC+ against LHP this season; however, they are missing Willson Contreras who was a big piece of that. They do still have bats who can provide some right-handed thump like Adley Rutschmann, Jahmai Jones, Trevor Story, Caleb Durbin, Nate Eaton, and Andruw Monastario. Griffin will have to find a way to keep them at bay for a while, and I suspect we will need a return scoreless appearance from Craig Yoho and no gopherballs tonight from Hunter Gaddis. The Red Sox for the season have been +4 runs above average when facing lefties against Griffin’s best pitch (the cutter), but they’ve been -0.6 against sinkers and -4.9 against changeups, so I’d see if Griffin can leverage those two offerings into some outs tonight if I were designing the gameplan.

Finally, of course, we ideally want the Guardians to find a way to hang on to their slim one-game lead in the AL Central and get the #2 seed in MLB’s postseason bracket, including the bye. BUT, the Chicago White Sox have the tiebreaker and they are playing the terrible Royals and then the even more terrible Colorado Rockies to end the year. Tonight, the White Sox will open with very good reliever Bryan Hudson and then go to Erick Fedde, who is a solid but not dominant arm. The Royals will start the very bad Seth Lugo with an ERA over 5. He has surrendered a .341 wOBA to the White Sox this year, which is also bad. BUT, the Royals scored 11 runs last night. Let’s hope they can do that again because they’ll probably need it. The Royals will start Randy Dobnak on Thursday and he has a 3.08 ERA (somehow!) and they’ll be facing the back end of the White Sox rotation… so that may be the best chance for Chicago to lose a game this series. The Guardians, however, will be facing lefty Ranger Suarez who is good… and will need David Fry and Jo Adell to make some noise in that one.

Pitching rotations are not set for the Astros and Rangers after today, but the Mets will throw Zac Thornton who has a 3.40 ERA against Texas on Thursday. Meanwhile, to face the Astros, the Athletics will throw Mason Barnett who is capable of a decent performance but not great, Jacob Lopez who is like Logan Allen but worse, Jack Perkins who has been very good his last two starts, and Brady Basso who hasn’t been good but whose expected numbers look better. The Athletics are bad, no doubt, but they do have a bit of kick to them and should be motivated to spoil things for big bad Houston. The Rangers wrap up their season with three versus the Twins, who should be throwing Joe Ryan one of those games, so that’s the one to steal.

For the Guardians, Travis Bazzana needs to find it again soon, we need some Playoff Rocchio and Hero Hosey, and the bullpen will have to hold up while Griffin, Joey Cantillo and Tanner Bibee finish strong. The team has been putting up good at-bats and finding a way. I believe they can continue to do so – we will see where they end up on Sunday evening!