Category: MLB

Why Cora pulled Red Sox rookie Connelly Early despite success vs. A's originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Red Sox left-handed rookie Connelly Early ran through the Oakland Athletics — again.

Early, who threw five scoreless innings when he made his Major League debut against Oakland last week, started his first-ever game at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, it didn’t end the way he might’ve hoped as Boston took a 2-1 loss in the series opener.

Early, though, did his part.

“The kid did an amazing job,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters of Early, who allowed one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings.

The 23-year-old scattered four hits during the first five innings, retiring the side in the second and third frames. He returned to the mound in the sixth but allowed a lead-off single on a ball that never left the infield. Early rebounded and struck out Oakland’s No. 3 hitter, Nick Kurtz, for the first out of the frame.

He was a double-play ball away from throwing six strong in front of the Fenway Faithful.

Cora, however, had other plans. He opted to go to the bullpen with Early at 80 pitches (55 strikes) and Athletics designated hitter Brent Rooker stepping to the plate for a third time. Hooker ripped a single to right field when he faced Early in the fourth inning.

“It’s about the guy that is hitting,” Cora said of the decision to pull Early. “The game will dictate that we do. That’s a good big leaguer that hits lefties really well. The other guys have to do their job.”

But the others didn’t.

Cora went with right-handed reliever Greg Weissert against the right-hander Hooker. Weissert struck Hooker out, but wasn’t able to close the door and get the final out of the inning. Instead, Weissert allowed an RBI double to the second batter he faced, walked the third, and allowed a two-out RBI single to the fourth. Weissert, who threw just 12 of his 22 pitches for strikes, was credited with the loss.

“We lose that game because I can’t do my job,” Weissert said. “Early pitches an unbelievable game and I go in there and do that (expletive). It sucks.”

The Red Sox, in the thick of a playoff race, host the Athletics in the middle game of the series Wednesday.

The Mets enter the final two weeks of the regular season on the cusp of missing the postseason, a fact that was once unthinkable just a few months ago.

On June 12, a victory over the Nationals put the Mets at 45-24, the best record in all of baseball, and led the Phillies by 5.5 games in the NL East. Since then, the Mets have plummeted, going 32-49 entering Tuesday's series opener against the Padres. Only the Rockies and Twins have had worse records.

At just 77-73, the Mets hold onto a 1.5-game lead for the final wild card spot, and president of baseball operations David Stearns is just as surprised as the rest of baseball at what has become of the Mets' season after such a hot start.

"When you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we didn’t expect to be in this spot, there’s no question about that," Stearns told the media ahead of Tuesday's game. "We’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all that stuff. For right now, my focus is from here forward what can we do to win as many games as possible. That's in the regular season and the postseason."

Heading into Tuesday, the Mets still have a 79 percent chance at making the postseason with 12 games to go. For Stearns, a big reason the Mets have overcome the highs and lows of the 2025 regular season has been manager Carlos Mendoza. After Mendoza led the Mets to an improbable postseason berth to the NLCS as season ago as a first-time manager, the skipper has been under fire for how a talent-laden, $300-million team has underachieved.

Stearns praised Mendoza and the coaching staff for guiding this year's team despite that.

"We’ve remained consistent as a group," he said. "As a coaching staff, we’re putting in the work and doing our best to prepare our players. And that’s where our focus is."

Stearns later added, "Mendy has done a very good job. He's been a positive leader, a consistent leader, and he's done what he can to get our group going. I think he's going to continue to do that."

Stearns open to using starters in bullpen

One reason for the 2025 Mets' inconsistencies has been the volatility of the starting rotation and bullpen. Veterans Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga have struggled, while Clay Holmes is entering uncharted territory with the number of innings that the converted reliever is undertaking. Then recently-acquired relievers like Ryan Helsley have contributed to the Mets' bullpen woes this year.

While Stearns has supplemented the rotation with three youngsters (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat), the Mets will have to lean on their veteran starters in the postseason. Even if that means using them in the bullpen.

"I wouldn’t take any of that off the table right now," Stearns said of potentially using Senga or Holmes in the bullpen. "With 12 games left in our season, we’re going to do what we need to do to win as many games as possible, and if that means asking pitchers to take on slightly different roles for various turns through our rotation, that’s what we’re going to do."

Holmes is the most experienced of the bunch, pitching in the postseason. Holmes has appeared in 19 playoff games in three different seasons with the Yankees, with last year's campaign seeing him pitch deep into October. He pitched to a 3-1 record and a 2.25 ERA across 13 appearances (12 IP).

While Holmes pitching out of the 'pen in the playoffs is a possibility, it will still be a conversation the team will have as they look to mix and match against their opponent.

"It’s still a transition for him to do that," Stearns said of potentially moving Holmes to the bullpen. "It’s as much of what the matchups say, who we’re facing, how the rest of the pitching staff as a group is performing and then holistically trying to make the best decisions as you can." 

Job not done after clinching NL East, Phillies still going after top seed originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES – The announcement by the Phillies Tuesday before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers that infielder Edmundo Sosa was being placed on the 10-day Injured List may have caused concern for some. But in reality, as far as Sosa goes, and the other injuries the team is dealing with, all seem pretty good.

“It’s a right groin,” said Thomson. “Just a mild, mild strain. We worked him out yesterday and he still felt it so as a precaution we’re going to IL him, back date him, so he’ll be ready in seven days. He was still getting better but we didn’t want to risk it, especially going to the turf (in Arizona for next series). We decided it best to shut this thing down, get him right and get him back for the last couple of days of the regular season.”

To replace Sosa, the club called up Rafael Lantigua. In Lehigh Valley this year, Lantigua hit .232 in 124 games with 15 doubles, 82 runs and 17 stolen bases. He made starts at third base, shortstop and left field.

Hours before the game, third baseman Alec Bohm was doing his running work on the outfield grass at Dodger Stadium. “Great,” said Thomson of Bohm’s right shoulder soreness recovery. “He’s going to do full workout again today and tomorrow. If there’s no setback, he’ll be activated in Arizona.”

And more good news came from back in Philadelphia on shortstop Trea Turner as he progresses in recovery from his Grade 1 hamstring strain.

“Great. Today he did ground balls, threw across the diamond, full BP in the cage,” said Thomson. “Tomorrow he’s going to do some more jogging and ramp it up a little bit. Probably do the same field work as he did today.”

The goal, and belief, of the club is that Turner will get back in the lineup before the playoffs.

Playoff pitching decisions

After the injury to Zack Wheeler and the way the schedule played out, the Phillies have been throwing three straight lefty starters on the mound in Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo. It might not seem ideal for Thomson to have that in the playoffs and the manager isn’t exactly set on who his starters will be.

“We’ll line Sanchy (Sanchez) up for Game 1 no matter what,” he said. “The rest of it all depends on who we play. Yeah, there’s a lot of teams out there that don’t like lefties. And they go with a right-handed lineup or a left-handed lineup, they may want to keep the lefties on the bench. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“I think it has more to do with lineups we face. Being with (Aaron) Nola as long as I have I have so much confidence in him that he’s going to step up in a big game. I think it all depends on the lineups we face.”

No hangovers here

The celebration for wrapping up the National League East went on for a good long time after Monday’s 6-5. So, one might expect a bit of a wonky lineup for Tuesday’s game against Dodger starter Shohei Ohtani. Well, not so much, with the exception of Rafael Marchán starting at catcher.

“They all wanted to play,” Thomson said. “And we still have things we’re going after. Now, when we get on the turf in Arizona, I might rest all the outfielders for a day just to get them off their feet. But we’re gonna go for it, the bye and the number one seed. I think it’s important for us to play in our ballpark because we just play so well and we’re supported so well by our fan base.

“In New York, it seemed like every time, if we were to play Toronto and Tampa, it would be back-to-back on the road. So now you’ve got six or seven days on turf and you could really see the effect on the players. That’s where I really started to pick up on it.”

Ahead of the Mets' first game of three against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night at Citi Field, manager Carlos Mendoza had updates on several players' injury rehabs and what the organization has planned for starter Kodai Senga. 

What's next for Kodai Senga

The Mets will have the right-hander make a second start for Triple-A Syracuse at the end of this week, but after that, the next step has yet to be determined.

"We'll go from there," Mendoza said about what comes next. "But he's making, for sure, one more."

In Senga's first start with Syracuse last Thursday, he allowed one run on three hits over 6.0 innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. The 32-year-old got 18 whiffs on 43 swings with nine called strikes for a 36 percent called strike-whiff rate on 74 total pitches. The forkball was particularly good; he threw 17 in total and got 11 whiffs on 11 swings.

After Mendoza spoke, president of baseball operations David Stearns, in his regularly scheduled media availability, laid out what the organization would need to see from Senga to merit bringing him back to the majors.

"Results always matter, results are a part of it, and it's where is the stuff?" Stearns said on Tuesday. "Has the stuff ticked up to the point where we feel comfortable that it's going to consistently get major league hitters out?"

Luis Torrens playing at Syracuse

Torrens is playing on Tuesday night at Triple-A and is scheduled to catch seven innings, Mendoza said. "We'll see what we got there," he added about the backstop's rehab from a right forearm contusion.

Torrens posted a .225/.287/.348 slash line for a .635 OPS with five home runs and 29 RBI over 87 games. He had been much better since the All-Star break, batting .275 with a .764 OPS over the final 74 plate appearances before landing on the IL on Sept. 7.

Tyrone Taylor ramping back up

The center fielder had to step away from his injury rehab as he went on the paternity list, but is set to resume activities as he looks to work his way back to the big-league roster.

"The baby was born yesterday, so he's supposed to be back here [Wednesday]," Mendoza said. "And then we'll get him going again and hopefully start playing some rehab games up here shortly."

Taylor landed on the IL with a hamstring strain at the start of the month. In 109 games with the Mets on the year, the 31-year-old has slashed .218/.277/.315 for a .592 OPS. The time on the IL came at a bad time; he had 10 hits and six RBI with a 1.208 OPS in his final seven games.

No update on Tylor Megill

Mendoza did not have an update on the right-hander, who is expected to see a specialist this week. 

"He's got another in-person visit this week, and then we gotta wait," the skipper said.

Megill said he felt tightness when throwing his secondary pitches in his rehab start and was sent for imaging.

President of baseball operations David Stearns and the rest of the Mets’ front office had a busy trade deadline this season. After acquiring reliever Gregory Soto in the days prior, Stearns landed Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, and Cedric Mullins on July 31, seemingly shoring up any glaring holes on the roster.

But since that day, the Mets have gone 15-26, and with all of the struggles the starting rotation has had since that point, questions have arisen about why Stearns didn’t address the rotation at all at the deadline. 

Even before the deadline, there were questions about Kodai Senga, Frankie Montas, and Sean Manaea staying healthy and Clay Holmes’ durability during his first year as a starter.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but Stearns said on Tuesday that he would have done things differently had he known where the rotation would be at this point in time.

“I think if I knew exactly how our season would play out, absolutely (I would have approached the trade deadline differently). No question,” Stearns said. “We make the decisions we make at the time with the information we had. I’m very comfortable with the process we went through that led us to those decisions, but yeah, we did not play well during the month of August, and frankly, to this point through September. We’ve had various segments of our team that haven’t performed certainly to the level that we anticipated as we approached the trade deadline, and had I had that knowledge going in, yes, it would have changed what we did.

“I think we’re always trying to project out various possibilities, and there’s a probabilistic nature to everything we do, and we understand that we’re not going to get everything right. We’re unlikely to predict with perfection what seasons are going to look like, what stretches of seasons are going to look like. So I think certainly we have to learn from this and determine whether there are things we could have seen that we did not, but I am confident in our evaluative capabilities and our work on the whole that we’ve accomplished.”

Helsley has struggled with pitch-tipping and consistency, as evidenced by his 10.29 ERA as a Met, and while Rogers has pitched well and Soto has been up-and-down, Mullins has scuffled, posting a .571 OPS in 34 games as a Met.

"I think Cedric came over to a new team for the first time in his career, adjusting to a new organization, little bit of a different role. Got off to a little bit of a struggle, and sometimes that can put pressure on players, and I think he's spoken about that a little bit, that sometimes you can press," Stearns said when asked about Mullins' struggles. "I do think he's beginning to come out of it. I think we're seeing him have a little bit more productive at-bats, staying in at-bats, getting on time with the fastball little bit better. And so that's a really good sign for us."

The question, then, is a simple one: what exactly went wrong?

“First of all I would say we’re not at the end of the line yet, so there are potentially chapters yet to be written, but to this point it’s a fair assessment that our trade deadline, at least some of our trade deadline acquisitions, have not performed to the level that we expected or the level that they have performed at throughout their careers,” Stearns said. “Part of that is streakiness and randomness, and this happens every year in baseball with some trade deadline acquisitions. Part of it is, we need to look and ensure that we’re doing everything we can to help these guys succeed. 

"We take a lot of pride in, when players come here, allowing them to be the best versions of themselves. We’ve talked a lot about that, and so when that doesn’t happen, we need to be honest about that as well and see what more we can do.”

As poor as the Mets have played since the start of August, particularly during the recently snapped eight-game losing streak, the club still currently owns the third and final NL Wild Card spot, sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and 2.0 games ahead of both the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.

As Stearns said, the story of the Mets’ 2025 season hasn’t been completed just yet, and all he and the rest of the club can do now is focus on doing whatever is needed to make the dance and play in October.

“I think when you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot,” said Stearns. “There’s no question about that. We’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all of that stuff. For right now, my focus is here from here forward, what can we do to win as many games as possible, and that’s in the regular season and the postseason.”

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, look back at a tough week that was for the Mets, and look ahead to the final stretch in the chase for a playoff spot.

Connor and Joe feel relief after Pete Alonso’s walk-off home run that snapped a long losing streak, and praise the early big league work by young starters Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. The guys also go long on the problems at hand, including the veteran members of the starting staff, Kodai Senga trying to find himself in Syracuse, an inconsistent offense, the readiness of Jonah Tong, and the uneven performance of an overworked bullpen. 

The show then goes Down on the Farm to check in on the minor league playoffs, and goes into the Mailbag to answer questions about the Mets’ chances to get the third NL Wild Card -- and what their starting rotation would look like in the postseason if they got there.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

J.T. Miller has been named the New York Rangers’ 29th captain in franchise history. 

“We’re pleased to announce J.T. Miller as the new captain of the New York Rangers,” Drury said. "Since his arrival last season, J.T. immediately became a leader for our group and exemplifies how we want to conduct ourselves both on and off the ice. Congratulations to J.T. and his entire family on an incredibly meaningful achievement and we’re confident he will continue to represent our organization with class, commitment, and integrity.”

Miller was selected by the Rangers in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft and he spent the first six seasons in New York before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Rangers acquired Miller from the Canucks during the 2024-25 season in order to add offensive firepower, but also to help change the culture. 

While Miller hasn’t been with the Rangers for very long, he's viewed internally by the organization as the embodiment of how the team wants to conduct its business, on and off the ice.

Scott Morrow Looks To Step Up As A Leader For Rangers' Rookies Scott Morrow is trying to make an impact both on the ice and as a leader for the New York

Since trading Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks last season, the Rangers have been without a captain. 

In addition to Miller being named captain, head coach Mike Sullivan also joins the organization, marking a new era for the Blueshirts.

The Mets open a three-game series against the Padres at Citi Field on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...

Mets Notes

• Juan Soto is hitting .301/.435/.669 with 15 home runs, 35 RBI, 37 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases in 168 plate appearances over his last 36 games dating back to Aug. 6
• The Mets enter play with a 1.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League
• Sean Manaea is expected to enter in relief ofClay Holmes. Manaea has fared well his first time through the order this season -- holding the opposition to a .703 OPS. That OPS rises to .811 the second time through and 1.071 the third time through

What channel is SNY?

Check your TV or streaming provider's website or channel finder to find your local listings.

How can I stream the game?

The new way to stream SNY games is via the MLB App or MLB.tv. Streaming on the SNY App has been discontinued.

In order to stream games in SNY’s regional territory, you will need to have SNY as part of your TV package (cable or streaming), or you can now purchase an in-market SNY subscription package. Both ways will allow fans to watch the Mets on their computer, tablet or mobile phone. 

How can I watch the game on my computer via MLB? 

To get started on your computer, click here and then follow these steps: 

• Log in using your provider credentials. If you are unsure of your provider credentials, please contact your provider. 

• Link your provider credentials with a new or existing MLB.com account. 

• Log in using your MLB.com credentials to watch Mets games on SNY. 

• Select the SNY Mets game you wish to view from the Multimedia Center. 

How can I watch the game on the MLB App? 

MLB App access is included for FREE with SNY. To access SNY on your favorite supported Apple or Android mobile device, please follow the steps below.  

• Download the free MLB App.

• Open “MLB” and tap on “Subscriber Login” for Apple Devices or “Sign in with MLB.com” for Android Devices. 

• Type in your MLB.com credentials and tap “Log In.”  

• To access live or on-demand content, tap on the "Watch" tab from the bottom navigation bar. Select the "Games" sub-tab to see a listing of available games. You can scroll to previous dates using the left and right arrows. Tap on a game to select from the game feeds available.  

For more information on how to stream Mets games on SNY, please click here.

With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to hold off a handful of teams for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 16...

Mets: 77-73, 1.5 games up on Giants for third Wild Card

Next up: vs. Padres, Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY (Clay Holmes vs. Michael King)
Latest result: 5-2 win over Rangers on Sunday
Remaining schedule: 3 vs. SD, 3 vs. WSH, 3 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA
Odds to make playoffs: 79.2 percent
*Mets hold tiebreaker over Giants by virtue of winning the season series, while Reds hold tiebreaker over Mets. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks is TBD, and will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series

Diamondbacks: 76-75, 1.5 games back of Mets

Next up: vs. Giants, Tuesday at 9:40 p.m. (Eduardo Rodriguez vs. TBD)
Latest result: 8-1 win over Giants on Monday
Remaining schedule: 2 vs. SF, 3 vs. PHI, 3 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD
Odds to make playoffs: 7.9 percent

Giants: 75-75, 2.0 games back of Mets 

Next up: @ Diamondbacks, Tuesday at 9:40 p.m.(TBD vs. Eduardo Rodriguez)
Latest result: 8-1 loss to Diamondbacks on Monday
Remaining schedule: 2 @ ARI, 4 @ LAD, 3 vs. STL, 3 vs. COL
Odds to make playoffs: 5.1 percent

Reds: 75-75, 2.0 games back of Mets

Next up: @ Cardinals, Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. (Andrew Abbott vs. Michael McGreevy)
Latest result: 11-6 win over Cardinals on Monday
Remaining schedule: 2 @ STL, 4 vs. CHC, 3 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL
Odds to make playoffs: 7.7 percent

Bye-bye bye.

Hello, Dodger bullpen.

It was all so familiar. It was all so infuriating. It was the 2025 season boiled down into three hours of roars, then screams, then sighs.

The gasping, grappling Dodgers needed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies this week to have any chance at a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.

One game down, and their bullpen has already suffocated them.

They’re not going to get the bye. They couldn’t survive Philly’s first punch. It was the same old story. The Dodgers’ continually vexing relief pitchers gave back a two-run lead, ruined two ensuing comebacks and then were burned for a 10th inning double steal that led to the winning run in the Phillies’ 6-5 victory.

In a scene reminiscent of past October failures, a mournful Dodger Stadium crowd witnessed the Phillies dancing out of their dugout and squeezing into souvenir T-shirts and loudly celebrating on the field after clinching the National League East title.

In a scene also reminiscent of past October failures, just a few steps from the party, the Dodgers clubhouse was deathly quiet.

Read more:Dodgers fall to Phillies in extra innings, hindering their playoff bye chances

Max Muncy was asked about the bullpen, which allowed all six Phillies’ runs Monday, including three homers.

“That’s a tough question,” he said.

He attempted to answer it anyway, saying, “It’s frustrating from a team perspective, but they’ve done a great job for us all year and they’ll continue to do a great job.”

Sorry, but there is no spinning out of this mess. This is not a championship bullpen. This is not even a pennant-winning bullpen. This bullpen has been overworked and outmatched and simply outplayed all season, and when the Dodger front office had a chance to fix it at the trade deadline, they did virtually nothing.

It’s everyone’s fault. It’s an organizational failure. This bullpen is going to be the death of them. The slow expiration officially started Monday.

Fueled by fat pitches from Anthony Banda and Jack Dreyer and Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen, the Dodgers suffered a loss that may well have ended their hopes of defending their title.

Now trailing the Phillies by 5 ½ games with a dozen games to play, there’s virtually no way the Dodgers can pass them and finish with the National League’s second-best record, which means instead of getting a week off they are headed for a dangerous three-game wild card series.

If they win the West over the San Diego Padres — no guarantee — they will play those three games at home. If they finish second in the West, they will play those three games on the road.

Read more:Will Shohei Ohtani boost the bullpen in the playoffs? Dodgers weigh complex options

Either way, a team with a cooked bullpen and a sore-handed star catcher and all kinds of uncertainty surrounding their rotation won’t get the advantage of a much-needed rest.

"We want the bye, obviously,” Freddie Freeman told reporters last weekend.

It’s strangely not so obvious to everyone. Throughout the next two weeks there will undoubtedly be experts who will make the argument that the Dodgers don’t really want or need a bye week because it robs the team of its routine and rhythm.

Don’t be a dummy.

The Dodgers were desperate for that bye. The Dodgers knew they needed that bye. They knew they needed to rest the relievers, set up a Shohei Ohtani-led rotation, and give Will Smith’s right hand time to heal.

Yes, the bye week bewitched them in 2022 and 2023, when the offense lost its swagger and the Dodgers were beaten in two stunning division series upsets by the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

But, then again, they earned the bye last year and you know how that ended up.

They needed to pass the Phillies. And they needed to start that process this week, as the Phillies’ remaining schedule includes a closing six-game stretch against the Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins.

Read more:Q&A: Here’s what’s at stake for the Dodgers over the final two weeks

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is understandably steering clear of the bye-no bye debate, telling the media, “We’re gonna try to win as many games as we can. ... Where it falls out is where is falls out. ... I don’t think it matters for me to say how important it is. … I kind of just want to win games and see where it all plays out.”

Here’s how it — ugh — played out Monday:

Banda starts the game as an opener and allows a shot into the right-center field stands by Kyle Schwarber.

Dreyer enters the game with a two-run lead in the seventh and allows a two-run homer to somebody named Weston Wilson.

Vesia allows a go-ahead homer by Bryce Harper in the eighth.

Treinen doesn’t hold the runners on base in the 10th, allows a double steal, and JT Realmuto hits the eventual game-winning fly ball.

“I had the guys that I wanted, and that doesn’t always work out,” said Roberts.

It feels like it’s too late to work out.

“Trying to see which guys step up,” said Roberts. “Just gonna try to figure out who’s going to seize the opportunity.”

On Monday night, the opportunity seized them, dragging them into a three-game series that could cost them everything.

Tough to beat a wild card opponent with a bullpen that folds.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Chris Sutton believes Rangers' players are operating in a "toxic" environment amid the club's current struggles, calling head coach Russell Martin position "horrific".

Martin, appointed in the summer, has won three of his 12 games and Rangers have not won in their past five fixtures.

"I've got sympathy for him," said former Celtic forward Sutton. "I feel sorry for some of the players. I really, really do.

"You just don't get time in Glasgow. It's all about winning. It's turning ugly. It's a really difficult place to play. The environment to play in, it is toxic.

"The problem that the Rangers hierarchy have... These were the guys who hung their hat on Russell Martin. They keep backing him.

"I don't think he's helped himself, he told everybody the players are scared. That's the Rangers manager telling every other club in Scotland that his players are playing with fear. That's on him. Why would you do that?"

Sutton, like Martin, is a former Norwich City player and suspects supporters will stop attending Rangers matches.

"Unless he goes on an incredible run, Rangers fans, from what I'm hearing, they're just not going to rock up and watch the team," Sutton added on the BBC's Football Daily podcast. "They won't fill the stadium. They are so disillusioned.

"This has turned so ugly, so quickly. The start was so important for Russell Martin. He doesn't have any real allies other than the people who employed him.

"Nobody else at the club wants him to stay. In a short space of time, that's a horrific position for him to be in."

Philadelphia came to Los Angeles having already clinched a playoff berth. With Monday’s 6-5 extra-inning win over the Dodgers they added a division title to that collection, one they celebrated in the center of the Dodger Stadium infield, then with champagne in the tiny visitors’ clubhouse.

The Dodgers are zeroing in on a playoff berth and division title of their own. So the chances are high the teams will meet again in the postseason, which makes this week’s series a great opportunity to do a little scouting.

“We try to gather as much information as we can,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “They're doing the same thing.”

That’s not the main objective though. Because if the Dodgers are closing in the postseason, they aren’t there yet. And they have even more work to do after Monday’s game, which ended with Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto’s 10th-inning sacrifice fly scoring ghost runner Harrison Bader from third with the winning run.

“With where we're at, I'm trying to win every game,” said manager Dave Roberts, whose team fought back from deficits three times before losing. “And where it falls out is where it falls out.”

One of the things that both sides surely learned Monday is that the Dodger bullpen is still far from being playoff ready. Because after Emmet Sheehan held the Phillies to one hit over 5⅔ innings, striking out seven, he watched a quartet of relievers combine to give up four runs — three on homer runs — over the next four.

“It's frustrating, just from a team perspective,” third baseman Max Muncy said of a bullpen that has blown 24 saves and ranks fourth in the National League with 30 losses.

It’s unlikely to cost the Dodgers another trip to the postseason. Even with Monday’s loss, they are two games in front of idle San Diego in the National League West with 12 games to play and their magic number for clinching an 11th division title in 12 seasons is 10.

Read more:Will Shohei Ohtani boost the bullpen in the playoffs? Dodgers weigh complex options

The magic number to clinch a wild-card berth is six.

The Dodgers have also been eyeing the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament, however, a spot Philadelphia holds and one that brings with it a bye in the first round. It’s a break Roberts’ battered roster could use, but it’s one that may now be impossible to grasp: Monday’s win pushed the Phillies’ lead to 5½ games in the race for No. 2, a deficit the Dodgers have less than two weeks to make up.

“It’s really hard to not face these games down the stretch like a playoff game,” Rojas said. “We've been doing this for almost two weeks now. That's the way that we have to look at it if we want to be prepared for October.”

Those preparations were uneven at best Monday. At the plate, the Dodgers fought back from deficits three times to send the game to extra innings on Andy Pages’ solo homer with one out in the ninth. But they also went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and, after Muncy grounded out with the bases loaded in the 10^th, they left nine men on base. That erased a big game from Mookie Betts, who drove in three runs on two sacrifice flies and a game-tying homer in the seventh.

That gave him 19 RBIs in September and his 78 for the season, three better than his total from all of last year. But that wasn’t enough to overcome another bullpen meltdown.

Sheehan followed opener Anthony Banda to the mound, taking the ball three batters in the game with the Phillies already leading 1-0 on Kyle Schwarber’s league-leading 53^rd home run. Sheehan left with a 3-1 lead after giving up his only hit, a leadoff double to Otto Kemp in the seventh. But three batters later the Phillies had a 4-3 lead after Weston Wilson, the Phillies No. 9 hitter, homered off Jack Dreyer.

The Dodgers rallied to tie the game twice after that but each time the bullpen gave the lead back, the final run coming in the 10^th on Realmuto’s game-winning fly ball to right off right-hander Blake Treinen (1-5).

Asked if the series will show the Dodgers anything that can use if they face the Phillies again next month, Muncy shook his head.

Read more:Q&A: Here’s what’s at stake for the Dodgers over the final two weeks

“Personally, I don't necessarily think so,” said Muncy, who third-inning homer, his first since returning from the injured list as week ago, opened the Dodgers’ scoring. “We've done that in the past. We've played teams right before we've seen them in the postseason and usually they do everything complete[ly] opposite.

“Right now, you're just trying to win a game. You're not really worried about what's ahead.”

Notes

Reliever Brock Stewart, the Dodgers’ most-celebrated acquisition at the trade deadline, left Monday to join Oklahoma City for a two-game rehab assignment. Stewart, on the injured list since Aug. 12 with right shoulder inflammation, is expected to pitch Tuesday and Thursday in Triple A before returning to Dodger Stadium.

“If all goes well, then we have a conversation over the weekend,” Roberts said of Stewart’s availability. “We’ve just got to make sure he's healthy. If he's right, then it could be very additive.”

For the second straight year Betts has been chosen as the Dodgers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, baseball’s most prestigious off-the-field prize, in recognition for his wide-ranging charity work.

In January, Betts’ 5050 Foundation donated more than $30,000 of Nike clothing to victims of the Southern California wildfires. A few weeks later, in partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF), he donated more than $160,000 to the Brotherhood Crusade to help fight hunger and homelessness in Los Angeles.

Also this season the 5050 Foundation partnered with the Obama Foundation at Hyde Park Academy to donate youth sports equipment and other supplies while also funding the Mookie Betts Metro Baseball Tournament in Nashville.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Dodgers are planning to use Shohei Ohtani as a starting pitcher in the playoffs, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman confirmed Monday.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t certain scenarios in which he could also come out of the bullpen, as well.

“Things play out in October that you can’t foresee,” Friedman said before Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies — shortly after, coincidentally, catching up with new Phillies signing and ex-Dodgers favorite Walker Buehler, who made three starts in the Dodgers’ rotation last postseason before emerging for a title-clinching save in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

“Walker Buehler was a starting pitcher for us last year, and finished out Game 5 of the World Series,” Friedman noted. “So you never know how things are going to play out.”

Read more:Q&A: Here’s what’s at stake for the Dodgers over the final two weeks

The possibility of Ohtani pitching in relief has been percolating for the last several weeks. Pitching coach Mark Prior said he could “absolutely” envision it during an appearance on the "Dan Patrick Show" last month. Manager Dave Roberts has more recently reiterated that the conversation regarding Ohtani’s postseason pitching role remains open as the regular season winds down.

“Could it change down the road in the postseason? Possibly,” Roberts said Sunday when pressed on the topic again. “But right now we see him as a starter.”

Friedman largely echoed that sentiment Monday, a day before Ohtani was set for his next scheduled start in a pivotal series against the Phillies (who entered this week’s visit to Dodger Stadium 4 ½ games ahead of the Dodgers for the No. 2 seed in the National League standings, and the first-round bye that comes with it).

Friedman praised Ohtani, who has returned from a second-career Tommy John surgery this year with a 3.75 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 36 innings, as “one of the best starters in the National League.”

He said the team’s expectation is that the right-hander “will impact us as a starting pitcher” in the playoffs — even though Ohtani might not pitch much past the fifth inning of games (the limit he has been held to in his recent regular season starts) and won’t be asked to make consecutive starts on normal four days of rest (he has gotten at least five days off between each of his outings this year).

“No one is taking on more than [he is with the] pitching and also hitting and running the bases,” Friedman said. “So just trying to be cognizant of that.”

However, pitching out of the bullpen in some specific, late-game situations could remain on the table.

Like Buehler last year, and Clayton Kershaw in many Octobers before that, a long postseason run would likely offer opportunities for the Dodgers to use Ohtani as a reliever in the days between his starts — perhaps in potential close-out games or on nights when the back end of the team’s struggling bullpen is low on other trustworthy options.

Read more:Hernández: How Shohei Ohtani drove himself to become a first-time World Series champion

Ohtani does have memorable personal experience in such a role, having recorded the final outs of Team Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

When looking ahead to this postseason, Friedman did not close the door on that possibility either; even though he said his focus has remained on navigating the final two weeks of the regular season first.

“We’re expecting him to be a starter for us,” Friedman said, “and depending on everything else, we’ll figure out where to go from there.”

Of course, Ohtani’s two-way status would add extra complications to any potential bullpen plans.

There are logistical questions — like how he would warm up if his spot in the batting order comes up the inning before he’s supposed to take the mound.

And then there is a technical dilemma — with MLB’s two-way rules having been written in a way that, if Ohtani were to enter the game as a reliever, the Dodgers would lose him as a designated hitter once he exits the mound.

“Once you fire him … and you decide to come out of it, you have to take that cost of losing the DH and losing him as a hitter,” Roberts said. “You got to be willing to take the chance.”

That reality might restrict Ohtani to pitching only out of the bullpen in the ninth inning of games, and could make the Dodgers more hesitant to use Ohtani in relief at all for fear of what would happen if a game extended past the end of his outing.

"I think they missed the mark with it,” Friedman said when asked if he was frustrated by the language of the two-way rule; which was enacted by MLB several years ago in response to Ohtani’s emergence as a two-way star, but only allows him to remain in the game as a hitter after he exits pitching starts, specifically.

“I think the rule was put in place to try to encourage people to do it, to incentivize people," Friedman said. "So yeah, I think they missed.”

Friedman noted he’d liked to see the rule eventually changed to also include relief appearances, but acknowledged “that's more of an offseason, future thing.”

“Obviously,” he added, “it's not reasonable for us to ask for that in-season.”

Read more:'Really impressed.' Shohei Ohtani's return to two-way role going (mostly) well a month in

Thus, for now, the Dodgers will continue to weigh the complex pros and cons of how to use Ohtani’s arm once they reach October.

His current weekly pitching schedule has Ohtani lined up to throw in Game 1 of a potential wild card series, which will begin exactly two weeks from his Tuesday night start against the Phillies (though Friedman insisted that wasn’t intentional).

Whether his services are needed, even in narrowly conceivable circumstances, out of the bullpen beyond that remains to be seen — with the Dodgers continuing to leave that possibility open for now.

“I think so much of it is, when does he start? What’s that time off in-between? How lined up are our other starters?” Friedman said.

“Until we know that, it's hard to get too much into it."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Yankees couldn't take advantage of inferior competition on Monday night, as their offense went astonishingly cold in an ill-timed 7-0 loss to the Twins at Target Field.

Here are the takeaways...

-- While the Yankees insisted pregame that Anthony Volpe was healthy enough to serve as a full-time player, they once again turned to the hot hand in utilityman Jose Caballero, who ironically made a pair of defensive miscues in the third inning. After a leadoff double, he struggled to handle a sharp short-hop grounder that produced an infield single. Then, with runners on the corners and one out, Caballero took too much time to flip a ball to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base on what appeared to be a routine double play. The fielder's choice groundout allowed the Twins to take an early 1-0 lead.

-- Simeon Woods Richardson entered Tuesday with a bloated 4.58 ERA, but it didn't seem as if the Yankees even knew that the Twins' starter was vulnerable. They were simply caught off-balance by the right-hander's slider-splitter pitch mix, as he delivered a career-high nine strikeouts through five innings while allowing a pair of hits and walks. Caballero logged one of those knocks -- a one-out double in the fifth -- but he was regrettably picked off trying to steal third, moments later. Woods Richardson added two more punchouts in the sixth, finishing with a stunning 11 on 92 total pitches.

-- The lack of run support forced Carlos Rodón to work from behind, but the veteran left-hander still managed to grind through a quality outing. He struck out four across six solid innings (95 pitches), limiting the Twins to two runs on five hits and one walk. His biggest mistake came in the fifth, when he gave up a leadoff homer to Brooks Lee that bumped the Twins' lead to 2-0. Rodón has now allowed two or fewer runs in eight straight starts. His season ERA now sits at a solid 3.11 (182.1 total innings).

-- Luke Weaver took over for Rodón in the seventh, and for the fourth time in September, the right-hander grappled with command. He served up a leadoff pinch-hit double to Trevor Larnach, who proceeded to score two pitches later on a double to right from Lee. Weaver then loaded the bases via walks, and just when another pitching change seemed warranted, he allowed a bases-clearing double to Austin Martin that pushed the Twins' lead to 6-0. Camilo Doval took over from there, giving up a stolen base and an RBI single to Luke Keaschall. It was a huge five-run seventh for the Twins.

-- The Yankees' luck at the plate didn't change after Woods Richardson left, as three Twins relievers combined to record another three strikeouts over three scoreless frames. Cody Bellinger (2), Giancarlo Stanton (4), Ryan McMahon (2), and Chisholm (2) were responsible for more than two-thirds of the punchouts, and it was the Yankees' ninth shutout loss this season.

-- Ben Rice entered as a pinch hitter for Caballero in the top of the eighth -- he struck out on six pitches. In the bottom half, Rice moved to catcher as the replacement for Austin Wells,and Volpe took over at shortstop. The swap wasn't blemish-free, as Rice failed to corral a popup along the netting behind home plate.

Game MVP: Brooks Lee

Minnesota's shortstop raised his season RBI total from 58 to 60 with the solo shot and double. Those hits alone provided them enough cushion.

What's next

The Yankees (83-67) will continue their three-game series in Minnesota on Tuesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 p.m.

RHP Cam Schlittler (3-3, 3.05 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite RHP Zebby Matthews (4-5, 5.06 ERA).