SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 16: Jacob Lopez #57 of the Athletics pitches during the top of the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Sutter Health Park on August 16, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Scott Marshall/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Still looking for win #50. The A’s have another shot at it today after dropping the series opener to the Houston Astros last night.
Jacob Lopez is getting the ball to start today’s game. He’s done well in his second chance in the starting rotation so far. In six post-All Star Break starts he’s sporting a 2.48 ERA with a much stronger K?BB ratio. He went six full innings last time out, allowing just two runs on five hits against the Rangers.
As for Houston, they have right-hander Hunter Brown on the bump for them this evening. He’s taken a step back from his dominant performance last year but he’s still a tough pitcher to go up against. The A’s need to take advantage of every opportunity they have against him tonight.
Aug 21, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; The “players weekend” bat of Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo (24) as he prepares to bat in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
BOSTON, UNITED STATES- APRIL 23: Yankees Giancarlo Stanton waits to go up to bat during a Boston Red Sox match against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on April 23, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu via Getty Images) | Anadolu via Getty Images
It’s really something to see a true one-of-one. The first time it really stuck, it really happened to me, was Usain Bolt in 2008 in Beijing. With all due respect to what Michael Phelps did in those Olympics, there’s something primal about the 100m dash, something we’ve been doing as a species since Urk bragged to Gru he could get to that rock over there first. It was quite something for 14-year-old Joshua to see the seven fastest men in the world three steps behind this freak — and I say that with the utmost admiration.
Of course Bolt did that two more times in those Games, then broke his own record at the World Championships in Berlin a year later—still the fastest time ever recorded—and then in London, and just for good measure took home the gold in the 100m and 200m in Rio in 2016. The greatest sprinter of all time and a 100th-percentile outcome for what the human body can be. Bolt went out with a whimper though, pulling up lame in the 4x100m relay final at the 2017 World Championships. A hamstring injury mid-race spelled the end of one of sports’ great, fiery comets.
You almost never get to go out on your own terms, especially in athletics. Eventually, your body—the thing that earned you a living, the thing that elevated you over pretty much the entire global population—lets you down. Giancarlo Stanton is also a true one-of-one. You could make a compelling argument that nobody in the history of baseball has boasted his raw power. Perhaps nobody in the sport has ever had so many home runs where the defenders simply didn’t move upon contact:
And of course, like A-Rod in 2009, there’s a very good chance the Yankees don’t even make the World Series in ‘24 if Stanton doesn’t hammer the ball like he can. Cleveland in particular had no answer whatsoever to the ALCS MVP, who showered Guardians pitching with four clutch homers. He had a 1.048 OPS that postseason and likely walks away with 18 career playoff homers and a .926 OPS in 202 plate appearances.
And as ever, you almost never get to go out on your own terms. Giancarlo Stanton was last on an MLB field on April 24th, and a couple calf strains later—most recently this week—his 2026 season is likely over. With labor unrest on the horizon, and just one guaranteed year left on his massive contract, you wouldn’t be in the wrong to assume Stanton’s career is effectively over. Yes, the Yankees may keep him around because it’s just one year, the Marlins are kicking in some cash, there’s probably insurance on the contract, maybe he plays a bit next year and is on one of his now-legendary heaters … but the news coming down yesterday felt like a coup de grâce.
For all his power and all his talent, Stanton always felt a little out of place — perhaps partially because of that one-of-a-kind power tool. His 13-year, $325 million contract was always real money but also always seen as “someone else’s problem,” with few in the industry thinking the Marlins, particularly the Jeffrey Loria Marlins, were going to keep him through the length of the deal. When he came to the Yankees as the reigning NL MVP after the glorious ride that was 2017, it felt like a near-coronation that the Baby Bombers were going to run the table in the AL for the foreseeable future.
Instead, he had a strong season even as the promised Twin Terrors of he and Aaron Judge didn’t quite take off in the way we thought. From there on, we were penciling in IL time every year. Even as Stanton slugged through Octobers, he was always great but not always on the field. The last two seasons have been particularly challenging, if Big G doesn’t play again this year that’ll be a combined 101 appearances since the start of 2025. He’s been quite productive in those 101 games, two full wins which is quite something for an all-stick, no legs DH. Playing in just 31 percent of team games, as ever, is the catch.
If this is the end for Stanton, not only do we close a chapter of Yankee history; nearly a decade with MVP-caliber bats ostensibly in the middle of the order, but we likely see the end of what was an outside shot at the Hall of Fame. So much of Stanton’s case was going to be how close he could get to 500 home runs. He sits at 456 at press time, if he wants to hang around the league I’m sure some team will sign him on the cheap — he’ll get every penny of that $325 mil no matter what the Yankees decide to do — and try and capitalize on the chase.
Stanton will also be 37 next Opening Day, with a persistent problem in his lower half. At the start of the year he had two skills, hit the ball hard and jog softly around the bases. We don’t know if that skillset has been reduced to just a single one. Remember, the initial calf injury popped up when he was simply moving to second base on a walk.
Maybe this World Series homer sums up Stanton’s time in the Bronx. It was huge! It was important! It came in one of the most crushing losses in recent club history.
If this is it, thanks for everything Giancarlo. We will likely never see pop like yours again.
TORONTO, CANADA - AUGUST 11: Patrick Sandoval #43 of the Boston Red Sox warms up in the bullpen before a game during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 11, 2026 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Patrick Sandoval has not been good. But here’s a fun little tidbit from our own Jake Roy:
Entering today’s game, the Giants active roster has a 61 wRC+ against LHP (last in baseball)
Huge opportunity for Patrick Sandoval and Jake Bennett to take some load off of a banged up bullpen the next two nights.
In other words, tonight’s game represents a great opportunity for Sandoval to bounceback.
Offensively, tonight’s game represents another opportunity for Nick Sogard and Andruw Monasterio to show that don’t deserve to get bumped from the lineup when Trevor Story returns. Sogard will get plenty of at-bats in the leadoff spot.
Erie SeaWolves starting pitcher Andrew Sears throws during an Eastern League playoff baseball game against the Altoona Curve at UPMC Park in Erie on Sept. 18, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
Left-hander Andrew Sears is reportedly on his way to Detroit. The Tigers 11th ranked prospect on our preseason rankings, Sears has shown out in two Triple-A appearances since being promoted from Double-A Erie back on August 11. The X account Dr. Degenerate, apparently the burner account for someone with good sources, reported on Saturday that Sears is being promoted to Detroit. That account has nailed several recent promotions in the Tigers’ system. The report has been circulated by both Emily Waldon as well as the MiLB Central official account on X, and Chris McCosky of the Detroit News confirmed that Sears is with the team in Kansas City and will be used as a bulk reliever in Sunday’s bullpen game.
The 23-year-old Sears, he’ll turn 24 on August 30, was the Tigers 10th round pick in the 2023 draft out of Connecticut. That makes him the first pitching prospect drafted by Scott Harris to reach Detroit, and another later round success story to go with Brett Callahan. Sears received a $167,500 bonus to sign, just barely over the base bonus of $150,000.
Source confirms @DrDE6ENERATE report of Andrew Sears being called up to Detroit.
Sears made his full season pro debut in 2024 at the Low-A Lakeland level, where his strikeout rate was good and he was rarely hit hard, but had some control issues. Those were resolved by 2025, and the southpaw continued to rack up good strikeout numbers and prevent home runs while throwing a lot more strikes for High-A West Michigan. Left-handers often thrive in A-ball and then struggle as more advanced hitters get used to seeing more southpaws against them, but Sears didn’t miss a beat moving into the upper levels. He closed out the season with a nice run over six starts at Double-A Erie. The hope this year was that Sears would refine his changeup and overall command a bit more, reach Triple-A and become available in the second half of this season to help the major league club.
Ultimately, this all came to pass, but it was a wild ride for Sears this year. He had a bone spur fracture in his throwing elbow to begin the season, and spent a few months recovering and rehabbing, returning to Erie in mid-June. He made nine starts for the SeaWolves, compiling a 2.57 ERA/3.44 FIP combination, with a 24.3 percent strikeout rate and a 7.6 percent walk rate. In two starts for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, Sears has been a strikeout machine, punching out 41.2 percent of hitters he’s faced. His walk rate has ticked up to 11.8 percent, but he also hasn’t allowed a home run.
We’ve pegged Sears for two seasons now as the next lefty swingman for the Tigers. He can start, but he makes plenty of sense as a long reliever and spot starter who also works out of the bullpen. His deception, built on a bit of funky, crossfire delivery and a quick arm from a low slot, makes him tricky to deal with, and his stuff has routinely played up compared to the raw stuff metrics. The big task this season was to refine his changeup and get to using the offspeed more often to take pressure off his good sinker-slider combination, and he appears to be dialing that in now.
His bread and butter is still that sinker-slider combination. Sears has sat 94.3 mph with the sinker in Toledo with slightly above average extension to the plate, and a low (5.4 feet) release point. He made an adjustment this summer, moving from the third base side of the rubber to the middle, and that seemed to unlock better command of both pitches, and a better angle in to right-handers which has been giving them trouble. Sears has gotten a monstrous 42.4 percent whiff rate on the sinker in Toledo, and while that’s not going to hold up, it does speak to the combination of deception, angle, and movement he gets on the pitch and how much trouble hitters have had getting bat on the ball. His sweeping slider averages 83 mph with a tricky mix of horizontal movement and depth. He has a 30.8 percent whiff rate on the pitch in Toledo.
Sears 88.2 mph changeup has been the real point of development this season, and while he doesn’t use it a ton, he’s shown a lot more confidence in it recently, giving him another weapon to handle right-handed hitters. He’s only thrown 17 of them in his two Triple-A starts, but he’s gotten a 55.6 percent whiff rate, so the pitch does have potential. It’s worth remembering that Sears hasn’t really faced a whole lot of high end Triple-A prospects in those two outings. Major league hitters will illustrate where adjustments need to be made.
Sears works quickly, and while he’s actually quite a cool customer on the mound, his fast pace, twitchy pre-pitch routine, and general strike throwing aggressiveness give him a bit of a psycho aspect on the mound. He often looks like he’s breathing fire, quickly getting back on the rubber after each pitch and staring in well before the hitter gets back in the box. He’s a fun guy to watch, especially when he’s really rolling.
Despite using the sinker so much, Sears isn’t actually a big ground ball pitcher. His contact is generally spread pretty evenly between fly balls and grounders, but he’s good enough at messing with hitters’ timing that a lot of balls in play in the air are pop-ups and lazy fly balls. We’ll see if he can bring that same success to the Show. He will switch to the riding fourseamer for whiffs above the zone, but he’s generally working the edges in and out with the sinker and sweeping the slider as bait across the bottom of the zone to lefties, and back-footing right-handers.
The Tigers have missed Brant Hurter this season, and Sears presents a similar set of skills, even if he manages contact without the high ground ball rate. This is a good opportunity for him to get some finishing school work with Chris Fetter, Robin Lund, and Juan Nieves, and Sears has the mentality to hold up to some rookie struggles if that’s how it goes. Still, he’s been extremely sharp in recent weeks and this promotion was foreseeable as a result. If he can keep it going he should do well.
CINCINNATI, OHIO - AUGUST 17: Quinn Mathews #60 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches during game one of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on August 17, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies will tangle again Saturday night as it’s Quinn Mathews starting for the Cardinals in place of Andre Pallante who was sent to the injured list. The Phillies will send RHP Andrew Painter to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05pm central time with the game broadcast available via Cardinals.tv.
Aug 22, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes (38) reacts after hitting a RBI single against the New York Yankees during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Blue Jays 4 Yankees 3
Well, that will get your blood pressure up.
Bottom of the ninth, Jays up by one. Louis Varland in. Jazz Chisholm Jr. leads off with a double to the wall in center. But he strikes out Austin Wells (with Wells using the Yankees’ last challenge on the strike three pitch). A ground out got us two out (very nice pickup by Vlad on a short hop), but Chisholm went to third in there. But Louis got Trent Grisham to strikeout to end the game. Amazing job, Varland.
We got yet another great start from Dylan Cease. He had a no-hitter going until two outs in the seventh inning. But a walk and two singles scored a run and ended his day. He had five walks and 8 strikeouts. More walks than you’d like, but a terrific outing. Sportsnet says Cease had a 42 inning shutout streak on the road.
Spencer Miles got the last out of the seventh.
Tyler Rogers didn’t have a good eighth inning, giving up his first home run of the season, a two run shot, making it a one run game.
Offensively? Well, we had a lot of hits. 15. You would think you would get more than 4 runs off 15 hits.
George Springer had 3. Brett Bateman, Vlad Guerrero, Ernie Clement, and Nathan Lukes (after coming into the game late as a pinch hitter) had two each.
We scored:
One in the first: Bateman singled to start the game. Vlad hit into a force, replacing him at first. Kirk singled. And Springer singled, with Vlad scoring. I thought it was going to be a close play at the plate, but the Yankees’ left fielder Heliot Ramos showed a terrible arm. Unfortunately, that’s where it ended, Okamoto (strikeout) and Clement (ground out) ended the inning.
One in the fourth: Okamoto led off with a double. Clement singled him to third (on a bunt single). After a Daz Cameron strikeout, Charles McAdoo singled home Oka. But again, that is were it ended. Straw popped out, Bateman walked and Vlad ground out.
One in the fifth: Kirk led off with a walk. Springer singled. Two outs later, Nathan Lukes singled home Kirk.
One in the eighth: Lukes started the inning with a home run. Later Myles Straw would walk and Vlad singled, but we couldn’t score more than a run in any inning.
We had two on and no outs in the third inning, but a Kirk double play and a Springer ground out ended that.
In the sixth, Straw led off with a double. Bateman bunted him to third (I hated that bunt, we were up 3-0, try to run up the score), Vlad popped up (terrific catch by Jazz Chisholm chasing it out to right field) and Kirk ground out.
In the seventh, Springer started it with a single. But Okamoto popped out and they tried a hit and run with Clement up. Unfortunately, Ernie lined it into the right fielder’s glove. There was no chance for Springer to come back.
The second inning was the only inning we didn’t get a base runner.
Jays of the Day: Cease (0.23 WPA), Varland (0.20), Lukes (0.12) and Springer (0.10). Let’s give one to Miles for the 2 pitches he used to get out of the seventh.
No one got the ‘Other Award’, Rogers and Cameron had the low marks at -0.08.
Tomorrow we have a 1:30 start time. José Soriano (1-0, 2.76 for the Jays in 3 starts) vs. Carlos Rodón (4-2, 3.22 in 10 starts).
Let’s win the series.
And enjoy your evening. My evening is going to be spent barbecuing steaks and pouring drinks. I told my wife about your well wishes.
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 22: Ryan Weathers #40 of the New York Yankees pitches during the game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, August 22, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The cruelty of the game of baseball was on full display on Saturday afternoon in the Bronx. The day began with the news that Giancarlo Stanton had injured his left calf, likely ending his season. Were that the only bad injury news of the day, the Yankees’ 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays would have just been a particularly annoying contest in which the Yankees stranded the tying run 90 feet away. Oh, well, I guess Toronto got an extra helping of magic dust in their morning protein.
But it was not, in fact, the only bad injury news of the day. Ryan Weathers, who had been absolutely on fire in the second half, departed in the fourth inning with left forearm discomfort. We can only hope he avoids the worst-case scenario as the Bombers get ready for the season-series rubber match with the Jays tomorrow.
Toronto set the tone with three singles in the first inning—the latter of which scored a run courtesy of George Springer. But Trent Grisham gave the Yankees a great opportunity to quickly equalize and finally end that pernicious streak of games without scoring in the first inning. Grisham walked to lead off the effort against Dylan Cease, stole second, then took third on a groundout to give his teammates two good cracks at driving him in. Unfortunately, Heliot Ramos and Luis García Jr. both struck out, and the streak of first-inning futility grew to 21 consecutive games.
Then, the exact same thing happened in the second. Leadoff man Spencer Jones worked a walk, stole second without a throw, and took third on the first out. On cue, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a lazy pop to center and Austin Wells went down swinging. Hitting against Cease is obviously the furthest thing from easy—the next four innings and change would be further proof of that fact—but they should have gotten at least one one of those runners home from third. I’m sure it gave Cecil Fielder, who stopped by the YES booth in the second inning, more data points to complain about how hitting is somehow worse now, and we didn’t need that.
The entertainment value only further degraded from there. The Yankees were listless in the third, and then the Blue Jays added to their lead with another long inning. Charles McAdoo’s RBI single made it 2-0, then while pitching to Myles Straw, Weathers tumbled awkwardly off the mound on a pitch, appearing to tweak something in the process. Wells summoned Aaron Boone and the trainer, who promptly removed Weathers from the game after a brief meeting. The prognosis which came an inning later was vague yet menacing: “left forearm discomfort.”
Weathers had entered this game with six consecutive quality starts since the All-Star Break, with a 1.98 ERA in 36.1 innings. The Jays made him labor, grabbing eight hits and forcing a lot of high-stress throws from a guy who who is already well past his career high in innings. With Cody Bellinger set to return tomorrow and Max Fried already throwing in preparation to return, the Yankees were set to get a little healthier. Now it’s not so certain.
By the fifth inning, the hit column read a staggering 10-0 in favor of the Jays. The 10th of those hits, a seeing-eye single up the middle by Nathan Lukes, plated a third Jays run. Even with all that, Cease allowed a pair of walks in the bottom half to give the Yankees a scoring opportunity with one out. Heck, it even put the tying run at the plate. José Caballero put a good swing on a ball and lined it hard toward left field—because the baseball gods were evidently out for blood today, it was caught at shortstop and briskly turned into a double play as George Lombard Jr. was dead to rights off second. That twin killing preserved the no-hit bid.
Cease worked a 1-2-3 to complete six hitless innings and carried on into the seventh before Jazz clubbed a two-out single to finally get the Yankees off the schneid. Cease, who the Jays were never going to ask to get nine innings from with the five walks to his account, nonetheless stayed in to face Wells, who ended the shutout bid as well with a single to the rally pigeons in right center field.
Reliever Spencer Miles took over from Cease and immediately plunked Caballero, loading the bases for Grisham. Trent worked the count full, but hit a routine grounder to Guerrero at first to kill the rally. The Jays would get that run back in short order, thanks to a towering second-deck home run by Nathan Lukes. That proved a crucial insurance run given what came next.
With a runner on first, García became the first man all season to take setup man Tyler Rogers deep, clubbing a first-pitch sinker to the second deck on a line. All of a sudden that Lukes homer was the difference; we were back to a one-run affair. It hardly seemed possible given how sluggish the Yankees were to begin, but this is what the Yanks-Jays season series has been. No one team has been able to get comfortably ahead of the other.
The Yankees had to go up against the league’s best closer this season to keep their hopes alive. Louis Varland, he of the 1.24 ERA and 28 saves in 29 chances, took the hill in the ninth. Jazz greeted him with a leadoff double to the right-center gap, putting the tying run in scoring position right away. Did we dare dream in the Bronx today?
Wells struck out looking on a pinpoint outside fastball—he challenged, and I thought for sure he was right. He, and I, were wrong. Caballero then grounded to third, and it was up to Grisham, who had previously failed to come through with the bases loaded. Trent again worked the count full, and Jazz ambled to third. Any hit would do the trick, but a picture-perfect changeup from Varland dipped under the barrel and sent Yankee fans home with a tough loss.
Whichever good-luck superstition you like to practice, add it to your routine for Weathers’ sake as we await further news on his injury. One last game between these two teams this season awaits on Sunday afternoon, with the season series tied at six wins apiece. Just about all of these games with the Jays have been agonizingly close affairs—I imagine this finale will be no different. Carlos Rodón will take the ball opposite former Angel José Soriano. Same time, same channel: 1:35 pm on YES.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - AUGUST 22: Jake Bauers #9 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at American Family Field on August 22, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Logan Henderson put together another great outing against one of the best offenses in baseball as the Brewers held the Braves to a single run for the second straight game. Small ball and Rake Bauers provided enough run support for Milwaukee to move to a league-leading 81-49.
Although he would eventually settle in, Henderson didn’t start the game on a positive note, walking Braves leadoff man Drake Baldwin to immediately put a runner on base. He bounced back to strike out Ronald Acuña Jr. on four pitches and quickly got Matt Olson down 1-2 in the count, but Olson turned on a changeup below the zone and smoked it into right field for a single. Just three pitches later, Michael Harris II sent another changeup down the left-field line, scoring Baldwin and bringing Olson around to third.
With still only one out, runners on second and third, and Ozzie Albies coming to the plate, things briefly looked like they might get out of hand in a way that would have been largely uncharacteristic of Henderson. However, they didn’t. Henderson buckled down, retiring both Albies (on a pop-up to third base) and Mauricio Dubón (on a lineout to right field) to end the inning without allowing another run to score.
Jackson Chourio started the bottom of the first by working a walk off Braves starter Martín Pérez, but Pérez quickly struck out Brice Turang and got William Contreras to hit a soft pop-up that Olson ran down in foul territory. With two outs, Jake Bauers kept the inning alive, working a walk after an 11-pitch at-bat, but Andrew Vaughn also popped out to end the inning with the Brewers unable to answer.
While Milwaukee wasn’t able to break through in the first or second inning, they got on the board in the third. Pérez started the inning by getting Cooper Pratt to hit a soft grounder right back to him, but couldn’t field it, giving the Brewers a leadoff runner. Chourio couldn’t make solid contact either, hitting another weak grounder to Baldwin, who came out from behind the plate to throw him out at first. A second groundout from Turang advanced Pratt to third for Contreras, who grounded a single — the Brewers’ first hit of the inning — into left field to tie the game at one run apiece.
Up next was Jake Bauers, who somehow worked an even longer at-bat against Pérez this time in what’s probably the current front-runner for the Brewers’ best at-bat of the year. After working the count to 2-2, Bauers proceeded to foul off seven straight pitches, a stretch that included literally every pitch Pérez throws — sinker, four-seamer, curveball, changeup, and cutter. On the 12th pitch of the at-bat, Pérez went back to the four-seamer, and Bauers was finally sitting on something:
When Pérez exited the game after the fourth inning, he had thrown 97 pitches. 23 of those, or almost exactly a quarter of Pérez’s pitches in a nearly-100 pitch outing, were thrown to Jake Bauers. An incredible performance for Bauers, the Brewers’ OPS and home run leader, who both delivered the eventual winning run and was a massive part of getting Pérez out of the game early.
Bauers’ 23rd homer of the year made it 3-1, which was a lead that the Brewers wouldn’t relinquish, although they added an insurance run in the fourth with a Joey Ortiz double, a Luis Lara single, and a sac fly from Pratt. That run would be extraneous thanks to the dominance of the Brewers’ pitching staff, who held the Braves’ offense — which ranks close to the top of the league in most major offensive categories — to just five hits.
Henderson continues to look like a future star, bouncing back from that slightly nerve-wracking first inning to throw six steady innings of one-run ball and exit to resounding applause from the home crowd. He allowed just three more hits after the first and struck out four on the way to his eighth win of the season. Chad Patrick worked around a walk in a scoreless seventh and DL Hall struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth. With Trevor Megill having pitched the previous two games, Aaron Ashby came in for a save opportunity and didn’t get off to a great start, allowing Albies and Dubón to single.
With two on and nobody out, Braves manager Walt Weiss opted to pinch-hit the right-handed Lane Thomas in favor of the left-handed Mike Yaztremski, but Ashby got him to fly out to left field for a huge first out. Neither runner tagged up and the next batter — Austin Riley — grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
One final thing worth mentioning that Contreras appears to be breaking out of his slump in a big way, notching two hits: the RBI single and a double off the wall in left field. He now has six hits in two games this series.
Tomorrow’s series finale is set for much later than today’s, with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p,m. Shane Drohan will go for the Brewers opposite righty Tyler Mahle of the Braves.
THREE IS THE NUMBER OF THE COUNTING: The Cubs have not lost three consecutive games since June 7-10, when they lost at home to the Giants, 2-1, in 10 innings, then after a day off were beaten at Colorado, 7-3 and 3-2 on a walk-off. Their 40-21 surge began the next day when they beat the Rockies, 9-3. They have lost back-to-back games four times during the surge, including last Saturday and Sunday at home vs. the Cardinals, then Wednesday and Friday, at home vs. the White Sox and at Seattle. The losses in June at Colorado were the last time the Cubs lost the first two games of a series on the road. They did at home once since then, July 3-4 vs. the Cardinals. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
59 AND 10: Last night’s loss was just the Cubs’ 10th in which they have scored at least five runs. They have won 59 with five or more. They dropped to 8-9 in games in which they have allowed exactly six runs, and to 11-27 with six or more. The loss last night also was only their 16th in the 60 games in which they have scored first. On the road, they are 22-11 when they have scored first. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
OUTHOMERING THE OTHER GUY: Last night’s game was the third this season in which the Cubs hit three more home runs than they gave up. It was the first they lost. The win were by 12-4 at home vs. the Mets on April 17 and 6-1 at San Francisco on June 13. They won a game in which they hit seven more homers. They are 5-2 when they have hit two more homers and 23-5 when they have hit one more, for a total of 32-8 when they have outhomered their opponent. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Sammy Sosa hits three home runs and drives in six as the Cubs crush the Brewers 16-3 at Wrigley Field. It’s the fourth three-homer game of his career; he would eventually have six. He co-holds the MLB record for such things with Mookie Betts and Johnny Mize. It happened 25 years ago today, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2001.
David Peterson returns to the Cubs rotation after a one-outing detour to the bullpen, in which he threw 1.1 scoreless innings Monday against the White Sox, throwing 22 pitches, so he should be well rested for today’s game. Overall since that debacle against the Cardinals, Peterson has a 2.06 ERA and 1.228 WHIP in 35 innings, with only three home runs allowed.
Peterson’s only career start vs. the Mariners was in 2023 and it wasn’t so great, so don’t bother clicking on that link. The only current Mariner who’s faced him more than a handful of times is Weston Wilson, who’s 4-for-10.
Kade Anderson was the Mariners’ No. 1 pick (third overall)… last year, out of LSU. He just turned 22 last month, and the Mariners surprised pretty much everyone by calling him up to make this start. Anderson will become the first player drafted in 2025 to play in MLB.
He’s put up fantastic numbers in his first pro season: 18 starts, 1.06 ERA, 0.643 WHIP, 135 strikeouts of 333 batters faced, that’s a 40.5 percent K rate, and he’s walked only 13, a 3.9 percent walk rate.
Now is when I remind you that those numbers were put up against Double-A hitters. Those numbers are far better than his two LSU seasons (37 games, 28 starts), where he had a 3.38 ERA and 1.169 WHIP. The K rate was 36.5 percent there and the walk rate 8.5 percent, very good but not like the otherworldly numbers… in 18 Double-A starts.
It should also be noted that Anderson did not throw more than 80 pitches in any of his Double-A starts. I would expect him to be on a pitch limit and to not go more than five innings.
Today’s game is on Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market. In the Chicago local market this game will be on WPWR-Ch. 50 because WFLD-Ch. 32, Fox-TV’s primary channel, is carrying the Bears preseason game.
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You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - AUGUST 21: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after hitting a walk-off triple for the win against the St. Louis Cardinals in the tenth inning at Citizens Bank Park on August 21, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Heather Barry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Aug 22, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Martin Perez (33) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Even the usually stable Martín Pérez couldn’t halt the Braves’ skid that has carried throughout this week’s wild four-city road trip.
A strong few innings by the veteran lefty were derailed by an error he made in the field, causing enough of a tailspin in the aftermath that proved to be too much to overcome in Atlanta’s 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Braves (75-55) have lost five of six games on this road trip and seven of nine games overall. Should the Phillies win their eighth straight game later on Saturday, the division lead would fall to three games.
The Braves opened a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Drake Baldwin worked a leadoff walk, moved to third on Matt Olson’s single and scored on Michael Harris II’s double. But it was something of a chance wasted when Atlanta managed to scrape across just the one run with runners in scoring position and one out after Ozzie Albies popped out and Mauricio Dubón lined out to right.
Still, it was the Braves’ first run scored in the first two innings of a game since last Saturday, no doubt a step in the right direction.
That joy was somewhat short-lived, however, as the Brewers rallied to take the lead in the third thanks to Pérez’s critical error.
The left-hander bobbled a slow-roller back his way to allow Cooper Pratt to reach on a leadoff error. After consecutive fielder’s choices moved the runner to third, William Contreras brought him home with a single to right, tying the game on an unearned run.
That jumped up to three unearned runs when Jake Bauers crushed a two-run homer on the 12th pitch of his at-bat 413 feet to center to give Milwaukee a 3-1 lead. What should have been a 12-pitch inning and a 1-0 lead turned into a 37-pitch inning, leaving Pérez at 74 pitches through three and putting a relative cap on how long his outing could be.
Another extended inning where he allowed one more run — close to best-case scenario after Milwaukee had runners on first and third with no outs — ended Pérez’s outing after just four innings. He allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits, leaving the Braves in a 4-1 hole that felt insurmountable given Atlanta’s recent offensive output.
As it turned out, that instinct proved correct. After three of the first four Braves reached against Brewers starter Logan Henderson, the rookie retired 16 of the final 20 Atlanta batters he faced.
By the time his outing concluded after six innings, Henderson’s tough start was long gone as he held the Braves to one run on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Victor Mederos gave Atlanta one scoreless inning of relief, and Brent Suter followed with three shutout innings to give the Braves offense a chance to come to life. But Atlanta couldn’t scrape a run across in the seventh against Chad Patrick, eighth against DL Hall or ninth against Aaron Ashby.
The ninth inning, which the Braves led off with back-to-back singles before Lane Thomas flew out and Austin Riley grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, summed up the recent slump, which has seen the Braves score two or fewer runs in five of their six games this week.
The Braves will look to avoid their second straight sweep Sunday night in a neutral-site finale against the Brewers at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
The Yankees rallied late after being kept off balance by Dylan Cease, but fell short in their 4-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon in the Bronx.
New York was no-hit by Cease for 6.2 innings before back-to-back singles knocked the Cy Young candidate out of the game, and picked up a run along the way. A two-run shot by Luis Garcia Jr. off of Tyler Rogers in the eighth cut the Jays' lead to 4-3. Against Louis Varland in the ninth, Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off with a double, but Austin Wells struck out, Jose Caballero grounded out, and Trent Grisham struck out to end the game.
The Yankees' five-game winning streak was snapped and they were out-hit 15-4. New York finished 1-for-12 with RISP and left seven on base. Toronto was 4-for-18 with RISP and left 12 on base.
Here are some takeaways...
-The Blue Jays made Ryan Weathers work early, pushing across a run in the first inning on three hits, with George Springer lacing a one-out single to get Toronto on the board.
Weathers would pitch around baserunners in the second and third, but Toronto put the pressure on the southpaw in the fourth. Kazuma Okamoto led off with a ground-rule double and Ernie Clement reached on a perfectly placed bunt to put runners on the corners with no outs. Charles McAdoo punched a one-out single into center field. After a couple of pitches to Myles Straw, Weathers called for the trainers and left the game with left forearm discomfort.
Yerry De los Santos came in and got Straw to fly out and, after a walk to load the bases, De los Santos got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out and escape without further damage.
Weathers tossed 72 pitches (51 strikes) in 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out three batters.
-Going up against Cease, runs would be a premium, but the bats didn't do themselves any favors. They stranded a runner on third with one out in the first two innings. Heliot Ramos (strikeout) and Garcia (strikeout) strandedGrisham in the first, while Chisholm (flyout) andWells (strikeout) left Spencer Jones 90 feet away from homeplate.
The Yankees put pressure on Cease in the fifth after two walks. Caballero smashed a line drive, but the shortstop snagged it and doubled up George Lombard Jr. at second to end the inning. Cease would push his no-hit bid until two outs in the seventh when Chisholm looped a single into right field. That hit made Wells the tying run with two runners on, and the Yankees backstop lined a hit to score the team's first run and chase Cease.
Caballero was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Grisham, but the outfielder grounded out to end the threat and put a bow on Cease's day.
The Cy Young candidate allowed one run on two hits and five walks through 6.2 innings. He struck out eight batters.
-De los Santos would allow another run in the fifth on a pinch-hit single by Nathan Lukes before giving way to Bradley Hanner in the seventh. Lukes would take Hanner deep in the eighth to give the Jays some breathing room after the Yankees cut their deficit to two runs.
-Guerrero Jr., activated before the game from the concussion IL, went 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Game MVP: Dylan Cease
Without Cease's 6.2 no-hit innings, the Yankees may have been able to complete the comeback.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 21: Ty France #25 of the San Diego Padres is congratulated by Manny Machado #13 after hitting a two-run home run against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Petco Park on August 21, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The San Diego Padres desperately needed to get back in the win column. Yes, they occupy the last Wild Card spot. Yes, they’re on a hot streak as one of the best second-half teams in baseball. And yet, it could all come to an end so quickly. The Friars struggled this week in a series loss to the New York Mets. They needed a win like the one they got Friday night.
Ty France got on the board quickly with a towering two-run shot in the first inning. Starter Randy Vásquez wouldn’t need that lead until the fourth inning. He pitched a perfect three frames before running into trouble in the fourth. Vásquez gave up two runs to tie the game before San Diego topped the Minnesota Twins with a four-run fifth inning. That would be enough as Vásquez pitched seven fantastic innings. The righty was in vintage form Friday night. His resurgence would be a massive development for San Diego.
This is another winnable series for the Friars. If they can finish the Twins off tonight and go for the sweep, it would be a huge sigh of relief for the Padres as well as the Friar Faithful. The offense will need to look like it did last night in order to do so, but that order isn’t nearly as tall as it used to be.
Taking the mound
Dean Kremer (MIN) v. Casey Mize (SD)
Kremer is a recent acquisition for the Twins. Minnesota recently traded for the right-hander’s services at the Deadline. Since joining the Twins, Kremer has looked decent. In his first two outings, he gave up just two runs across 12 innings pitched. But, in his most recent appearance, Kremer surrendered four runs over just 5 1/3 innings.
That may bode well for the Friars, as many in the lineup have faced him before. Though sparingly, most of the Padres have seen Kremer’s stuff well in the past. It’s unlikely that will change tonight, and it should give San Diego an edge against Minnesota.
It’s the battle of the Deadline deals with Mize on the other side of the bump. Since coming to San Diego, Mize has looked good in the brown and gold. After having just about the worst debut game ever (8 ER, 3.1 IP), the right-hander has since pitched incredibly for the Friars (2 ER, 12.0 IP). There’s no suggestion that won’t continue against Minnesota tonight.
The Twins have faced Mize before. The righty spent all of his career in the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers before coming to San Diego. That gives veteran players like Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers an edge against the righty. Buxton owns a .348 batting average and 1.087 OPS against Mize (23 at-bats).
Batter up!
The offense was pristine Friday night, with Fernando Tatis Jr. going 3-for-4. As a matter of fact, the top four batters in the order (Tatis, Luis Rengifo, Manny Machado and France) went a combined 8-for-13 with two walks. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-16 with two walks.
Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Luis Rengifo, LF
Manny Machado, 3B
Ty France, 1B
Jackson Merrill, CF
Luis Campusano, C
Gavin Sheets, DH
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Merrill has looked worse for wear lately, batting .080 across his last seven games with a blistering 13 strikeouts in 25 at-bats. The center fielder has just started to turn things around post All-Star break. Hopefully he can rediscover the groove he was in sooner rather than later.
Relief corps
Between Michael King’s gem in New York, the off day on Thursday and Vásquez twirling seven innings, the bullpen is well-rested in San Diego. Bradgley Rodriguez and Mason Miller covered the final two innings of the series opener, pitching two perfect frames. Miller struck out all three batters he faced.
That leaves Griffin Canning, Jeremiah Estrada, Kyle Hart, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon and Wandy Peralta available out of the ‘pen for the Friars. Manager Craig Stammen has plenty of options to turn to once Mize exits the game, though Canning or Hart may be out first if Mize hits trouble early.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 7: Eduardo Rodriguez #57 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Minute Maid Park on September 7, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
This week’s question was in regard to a – for now, theoretical – playoff series for the Diamondbacks. Who would we want to start Game 1 in the postseason for Arizona. Right now, there are a number of potential candidates. Brandon Pfaadt has been excellent since his return from Reno (save that last start in Boston!). Eduardo Rodriguez has been the team’s Most Valuable Pitcher overall, since the beginning of the year. And they should be getting reinforcements for the stretch run in a couple of weeks, in the form of Corbin Burnes. A former Cy Young winner should never be discounted, even if ring-rust is an obvious potential concern.
That was a little bit of a surprise. Fandom is nothing if not reactive: it’s what we do. Lose a game to the Red Sox and social media is full of “season over” comments. Pfaadt’s recent run of success has been so stellar, I was expecting him to be the top pick. However, the SnakePit has taken a somewhat longer term view. Rodriguez may not have been as spectacular as Pfaadt. But there’s probably a better chance of a reasonable outing. After last night, their average Game Scores for 2026 are almost identical: just three-tenths of one point separate them, with Pfaadt on 56.5 and Rodriguez on 56.2. But the latter’s quality start rate is 62%, compared to Brandon’s 46%.
Pfaadt has three starts in his fourteen, where he got an out in the sixth inning, and allowed one or two runs, but wasn’t able to finish the inning to record the QS. Rodriguez has two like that, but that is a much lower percentage of his 26 outings. Though in terms of average innings pitched per start, their numbers are again, very close. Rodriguez is a best on the team 6.0, with Pfaadt just behind at 5.9. The Boston outing was definitely a bit of a reality check, but it’s not as if Brandon was going to pitch to a 1.15 ERA forever. Fingers crossed he can bounce back on Tuesday against the Cubs.
Interesting to note that a double-digit percentage of voters opted to roll the dice on Corbin Burnes. I can see the appeal, and if he proves himself over the last few weeks of the season, there’s a definite possibility he will indeed get the call. He is scheduled to pitch in a camp game this Tuesday, and is expected to throw around 35 pitches. If all goes well, he can then start to ramp up, though it is still going to be significantly into September before he can be considered as a candidate for rejoining the roster. I’d say he’ll need at least three or four more rehab appearances beyond Tuesday, though I’m sure Corbin will be lobbying to make it as short as possible.
