Category: MLB

Before he had a chance to grow up and become affectionately known as “Babe Ruth’s Legs,” Samuel Byrd was known to his family as Dewey. While growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Byrd excelled at basketball and baseball for Simpson High School. During his high school days, Byrd also found another sport to love, as he grew up close enough to the golf course to work as a caddie. Remarkably, both played a role in his long-term future.

Samuel Dewey Byrd
Born: October 15, 1907 (Bremen, GA)
Died: May 11, 1981 (Mesa, AZ)
Yankees Tenure: 1929-1934

Following his graduating from Simpson High, Byrd worked as a bricklayer like his father while playing sandlot baseball. That changed in 1926 when the Southern Association’s Birmingham Barons signed Byrd to a contract and promptly sent him to the Jonesboro Buffaloes in Arkansas. In 59 games, Byrd posted a .348 average and led the league in hits.

Following that successful debut, the Barons tried Byrd out with the Knoxville Smokies for the 1927 season. Byrd caught fire again in the hills of Tennessee, batting .331 with 15 home runs. This performance landed him his big break. The New York Yankees purchased Byrd’s contract and assigned the right-handed outfielder to the Albany Senators for the 1928 season.

In Albany, Byrd kept rolling. His batting average jumped to .371, and he hit 18 home runs in 130 games. After that season, it was clear Byrd had a future in the big leagues. The Yankees invited him to spring training, and he made the club to start the 1929 season. The rookie had trouble finding playing time, as the Yankees’ outfield included Ruth, Earle Combs, and Bob Meusel. Wearing number 27 on his jersey, Byrd finished his rookie season with 202 plate appearances and slashed .312/.409/.471.

Meusel vacated left field prior to the 1930 season, but the Yankees used a rotation of players alongside Ruth and Combs. In his second big league season, Byrd appeared in 30 more games than he had as a rookie but only netted 52 more trips to the plate. Of the 92 games he appeared in, Byrd started only 54. This was when the nickname and honorific of being “Babe Ruth’s Legs” took hold, as Byrd was often used to pinch-run or serve as a defensive replacement for Ruth late in games.

The Yankees experienced some change prior to the 1931 season, as Joe McCarthy was brought in to lead the club and Ben Chapman was moved out of the infield to cover the spacious “Death Valley” in left. Byrd was locked in as the team’s fourth outfielder and continued to serve as Ruth’s late-game replacement. Byrd appeared in 115 games that year while starting only 45. In that role, he produced a .270/.349/.395 slash line.

The 1932 season was a magical one for the Yankees. The team won 107 games and went on to sweep the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. For Byrd, the season was much of the same: another solid year serving as the team’s fourth outfielder, batting .297 with a career-high eight home runs in pinstripes. Byrd appeared in one inning of the World Series, as you guessed it, a defensive replacement for Ruth in the final inning of the final game.

Byrd spent two more seasons in the Bronx, continuing to serve as the team’s fourth outfielder and primarily taking over for Ruth at some point during games. In 1933, he appeared in 85 games with 18 starts; in 1934, the numbers were 106 games and 42 starts. Perhaps not coincidentally, once Ruth’s time in pinstripes ended, so did Byrd’s, as the Cincinnati Reds purchased his contract ahead of the 1935 season.

The Reds let the 27-year-old Byrd start 111 games in 1935. In the full-time role, he slashed .262/.322/.406 with a career-high nine home runs. The 1936 season was not as kind to Byrd, as he returned to a reserve role, but he did achieve the rare feat of hitting a Jason Giambi-esque “ultimate grand slam,” a walk-off slam that turned a three-run deficit into a one-run victory against the Pirates. The Reds traded Byrd to the St. Louis Cardinals after the season, but he opted to retire rather than return to the minor leagues and started to pursue golf full-time.

Byrd’s passion and talent for golf were known throughout the majors. Byrd, along with Ruth and other teammates, played as much as they could, and many players at the time agreed that the Yankees’ odd man out in the outfield was actually the leader on the links. After just a few years, Byrd found himself competing at golf’s highest level. He finished third in the Masters in 1941 and fourth in 1942.

When he retired from professional golf in 1949 (incidentally, one year after Ruth’s passing), he had won six times on the PGA Tour while playing in 20 majors with four top 10 finishes. Today he still holds claim as the only person to ever play in both a World Series and the Masters Tournament.

After all his playing days were over, Byrd became a golf instructor. He taught people how to swing a club using a drill he picked up from the Babe himself, keeping a cloth pinned between his arm and body. In 1974, Byrd was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and got to enjoy those honors for seven years before passing away in 1981.

Whether you call him Dewey or Sammy, we wish him a happy birthday!

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See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

David Peterson came over from the Mets in a trade made well before the deadline, in late June. The Cubs gave up 23-year-old infielder Cole Mathis, who was the team’s second-round pick in 2024 and who has yet to play above A ball.

Peterson made 16 appearances (15 starts) for the Cubs and overall his numbers were good, not great: 3.70 ERA, 1.369 WHIP, 0.9 bWAR.

That ERA is decent, but even that was skewed by a horrific start against the Cardinals July 3, when Peterson was tagged for 10 runs in 3.2 innings. In 14 games (13 starts) after that his ERA was 2.66 and he allowed only seven home runs in 71 innings, with a 3.83 FIP.

Those numbers would play, I think, in the Cubs rotation going forward. It’s still a bit of a mystery why the Cubs didn’t start Peterson in one of the Wild Card Series games. He wound up throwing 1.2 scoreless innings in Game 2 once the Cubs were already behind 4-1.

In some ways Peterson became the forgotten man of the Cubs rotation. He was even shuffled into a relief role when Edward Cabrera made his first disastrous return to the rotation in mid-August. Even then he was productive, getting this important out in the eighth inning Aug. 17 against the White Sox [VIDEO].

Peterson turned 31 in September. He’s another ground-ball type like Clay Holmes and generally keeps the ball in the ballpark (2.3 percent career HR rate). He made $8.1 million in 2026.

I would not be opposed to offering him, say, a three-year, $35 million deal. I think Peterson is much more worth keeping around than, say, Matthew Boyd, who will be 36 in February.

Who says no to that?

Former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is back in the NL East, joining the Phillies as their third base and infield coach.

Mendoza was fired by the Mets this past June and replaced by Andy Green, whose interim tag was removed near the end of the season.

In three seasons with New York, Mendoza had a 206-199 record. The Mets reached the NLCS in his first year at the helm and had a slow collapse in 2025 that resulted in them being eliminated from postseason contention. In 2026, a 12-game losing streak in April knocked the Mets out of contention early.

Before joining the Mets, Mendoza was a coach for the Yankees from 2018 to 2023.

In Philadelphia, Mendoza will work under manager Don Mattingly, who was given a two-year deal earlier this week after finishing the season with the interim tag. 

Before hiring Mattingly, Philadelphia reportedly reached out to Alex Cora, Raul Ibañez, and Chase Utley to gauge their interest in the position.  

The Dodgers were in a prime position to sucre a win at home in Game 3 of the NLCS, but Blake Snell couldn’t endure the wrath of Milwaukee’s lineup in a 6-2 loss on Wednesday.

Snell faced a similar fate as he did in Game 5 of the 2025 World Series, as he allowed a first-pitch home run to Jackson Chourio to start the scoring. From there until the seventh inning, Snell was exactly what the Dodgers had ordered, tossing six innings of scoreless ball while striking out nine hitters.

The Dodgers were able to give Snell some semblance of run support, as a two-run double from Will Smith helped put them up a run against Milwaukee. It looked like the Dodgers had enough momentum to come back in the seres, until the top of the seventh inning occurred.

Snell allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew Vaughn to put the tying run on base, and it seemed as if Snell was able to work around the situation. Instead, Snell got into a deep at-bat against Jake Bauers. and the Brewers first baseman was able to catapult Milwaukee to a 3-2 lead. Two pitchers later, center fielder Garrett Mitchell blasted his first postseason home run to put the lead evidently out of reach.

Snell spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA, where he mentioned how he was able to bounce back after the leadoff home run to Chourio.

“It was just wild, the fact that t happened in back-to-back postseasons, It’s part of the game. It’s not gonna define me, but it’s frustrating. I was really locked in because I was focused. I knew what I needed to do, and that’s part of the game. To give up a home run to start the game was just frustrating, and I’ll learn from that.”

In a start where the Dodgers needed all the run production they could get behind Snell, the two-run double from Smith was the only help that the southpaw was able to get. Snell looked to be on the upswing before Bauers and Mitchell both got to him in the seventh inning.

When speaking with Watson, Snell spoke about his dominant performance over his first six innings on the mound, until the two Brewers lefty bats lit him up in the seventh. It was a moment that Snell reflected particularly on Bauers, whom Snell shared parts of his career with in Tampa.

“I got a strike pitch one, and then I left a fastball over the middle to Bauers. I’ve known him since he got drafted with San Diego and then was with the Rays. I’ve seen all the ups and downs he’s been through. For him to go through this, he’s earned it.”

The Dodgers starting pitching so far has failed to live up to expectations, as they’ve been responsible for allowing nine earned runs allowed over 14 2/3 innings. The Dodgers will send Tyler Glasnow on the hill for Game 4 on Thursday, looking to avoid being swept by Milwaukee. This is the firs time the Dodgers have been down 3-0 in a playoff series since the 1966 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.

We’re going to try something a little bit different today. With Boston out of the playoffs and anniversaries of awesome Red Sox postseason moments popping up on a daily basis during this stretch of the calendar, it got me thinking about some of the greatest games in franchise history.

Specifically, I started a little exercise in my head highlighting these magical moments, and by the end of it, I wanted to play the game with other Red Sox fans and the OTM community. The task is simple: Create the best Red Sox 7-Game series using the franchise’s rich catalog of postseason roller coaster rides. In doing so, you have just two limitations:

1. Each selection within your best 7-Game series must correspond to the actual game it was during the series played. (So you can’t use a Game 5 and place it at Game 1 or Game 7 or whatever.)
2. You can only use one game per series, meaning you have to dip into seven different series to create the full list. (This means you’re going to have to make some hard decisions when it comes to the 2004 ALCS.)

So with that, I’ll get everybody started with my list.

Game 1:2004 World Series

You can actually go a few different ways here. For a while I thought the one-game Wild Card win over the Yankees in 2021 was the answer since that’s the only Game 1 that’s winner-take-all and it came against the detestable Yankees. But it was also so early in the postseason, was a good — not great — game, and it has some surprisingly stiff competition.

I also almost went with Game 1 of the 2018 World Series (great game and an easy way to lead off with the most dominant Red Sox team of all time). But I landed on Game 1 of the 2004 World Series because even 22 years later, I can still remember exactly how I felt watching every inning of that surreal experience. The euphoria at the start of the game coming off the ALCS comeback, the wild twists and turns, the errors, and of course the sound of the Mark Bellhorn home run hitting Pesky’s Pole.

There’s also been some extra legend added to this game and moment in recent years now that we know the ESPN crew accidentally pulled down the pole and moved it just hours before the World Series got underway. What are the odds the decisive home not only ends up near, but off Pesky’s Pole in the aftermath? Just another incredible tidbit from a time in Red Sox history full of them.

Game 2: 2013 ALCS

For me, the 2013 ALCS was the easiest selection on the whole list. I don’t think there’s any other Game 2 in MLB history that so completely and decisively swung a best-of-7 series. That series felt like it was headed down a one way street before the Ortiz grand slam, and then it morphed it into a different universe. Add on the indelible image of Tori Hunter flipping over the bullpen wall in front of the cop celebrating, and you have a photo that will grace the walls of Boston bars forever. Special game, special player, special moment, special series, special season!

13 years ago, David Ortiz completely flipped the ALCS with one swing of the bat off Joaquin Benoit.

Down 5-1 in the 8th and on the verge of going down 0-2 to the Tigers… Ortiz had other plans. Torii Hunter then flipped over the bullpens and Steve Horgan became a Boston legend. pic.twitter.com/5dGv1Ml7ws

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) October 13, 2026

Game 3: 2003 ALDS

Here’s where it gets tricky, but I went with Game 3 of the 2003 ALDS for multiple reasons. First off, it was just peak bizarre baseball, which I love! But also, I’d argue this game was the catalyst of the entire epic saga that was the 2003-2004 postseason. If the Red Sox lose, they get swept by the A’s, the Red Sox vs. Yankees ALCS never happens, the Pedro/Grady Little controversy in Game 7 never happens, and that entire core is less battle tested and probably constructed a little bit different when the face the Yankees the following year.

It also had some of my favorite dumb baseball moments of all time with Eric Burns shoving Jason Varitek and Miguel Tejada stopping on the basepaths when Oakland had the Red Sox on the ropes.

Oh, and then it went 11 innings and featured a Trot Nixon walk-0ff. Man, the entire 2003 postseason was just nuts!

Game 4: 2004 ALCS

The 2004 ALCS. This one doesn’t need an introduction or video (we’ve all seen the highlights a million times). It’s the ultimate dividing line between the past and the present. I almost went off sequence here and wanted to save my 2004 ALCS bullet for the next game, but I couldn’t because …

Game 5: 2008 ALCS

This is by far the toughest pick! Despite my last answer, I’d actually argue that Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS is the better game from that series (and I’ve done so here at Over The Monster before). But here’s the thing: There is no team in baseball — and for that matter all of sports — that has a more impressive catalog of stunning Game 5s than the Boston Red Sox. It’s not even close!

There’s the Dave Henderson home run in 1986. There’s Pedro coming out of the bullpen against Cleveland in 1999. There’s the Andrew Benintendi catch to close out the 2018 ALCS. There’s the nail biting ninth inning of Game 5 of the 1967 World Series that nearly sparked a 3-1 comeback. There’s Derek Lowe stranding the bases loaded to end the 2003 ALDS. There’s even this beauty to close out the 1915 World Series in which the Sox rallied down 4-2 in the eighth.

But for this exercise, I’m going with the seven run comeback in Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS.

The Sox failing to close out this series in Game 7 is one of the biggest missed opportunities in franchise history! Game 5 very nearly set off a dynasty with what could have been the franchise’s ultimate comeback game, and it was the eighth straight Red Sox win in the LCS when facing elimination (appropriately dating by Game 4 of the 2004 series against the Yankees). Mathematically, Boston’s odds to win the 2008 ALCS were lower in the seventh inning of Game 5 of this series than they were in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, and they took that all the way to an early lead in Game 7.

It probably won’t be the most popular answer among the masses because of how the series turned out, but I’m obsessed with what this game could have set off if Game 7 went differently.

Game 6: 1975 World Series

Even after all these years and four championships, it’s still Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. It’s a damn near perfect baseball game!

The Bernie Carbo home run fueled the dramatic eighth inning comeback, the Red Sox blew a golden bases loaded, nobody out opportunity to win it in the ninth, the Dwight Evans catch in right field in the 11th, Hall of Famers all over the place, and of course the iconic Carton Fisk home run where he waves it fair off the pole.

For decades, this was the best thing Red Sox fans had. It’s the closest many people ever came to tasting a championship, and it was savored so much by the region it was frequently mentioned in movies, books, and other literature for years.

Game 7: ???

And here’s where we get to the title of the article. For a franchise blessed with so much rich postseason history, the Red Sox don’t have a signature Game 7 win. Take your time. Dig. It’s not out there.

They have plenty of signature Game 7 losses, but all of their modern Game 7 wins tend to be exclamation points on other more iconic games from earlier in the series. (The 2004 ALCS is a perfect example of this.)

Oddly, they do have an easy pick for a Game 8. Back in the 1912 World Series, Game 2 ended in a tie, so Game 8 became the decisive, winner-take-all contest, and it ended up going to extra innings. The Sox fell behind 2-1 in the top of the tenth, only to score two in the bottom of the inning following an extremely costly error by Giants’ centerfielder Fred Snodgrass. What a way to close out Fenway Park’s inaugural season!

But anyway, back to the matter at hand. I’m going Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS to complete the comeback vs. Cleveland. It was more of a party than a great baseball game, but again, where else do you go with this exercise? (It also holds a special place in my heart personally.)

Here’s the most fun takeaway of this exercise for me: We have yet to see the best Game 7 in Red Sox franchise history. For all the records, all the heroics, and all the rhetoric about how we’ll never experience the same highs as 2004 again, any modern Red Sox team has a chance to go one last place no other Red Sox team has gone before. Make a deep postseason run and end it with an unforgettable exclamation point of a Game 7.

When it happens, that group will go right up there with all the other magical seasons we touched on throughout this list. In other words, there’s still new places to explore out there, and maybe — just maybe — our young stars will light the way.

So with that, I turn it over to you. What’s your best 7-Game Red Sox series?

The finish was frustrating. The power was undeniable. And the players who shared the field with Munetaka Murakami apparently saw plenty worth recognizing.

The White Sox first baseman was named one of three finalists for the American League Outstanding Rookie Award in the MLBPA’s Players Choice Awards on Wednesday, joining Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle and Cleveland’s Parker Messick. It’s an all-AL Central field. Apparently, the division had a few things going for it this year.

The winners will be announced the week of Oct. 26. Established in 1992, the Players Choice Awards recognize excellence on and off the field, with the voting handled by the players themselves. There’s something meaningful about getting the nod from the same guys trying to get you out. And for stretches of his first big-league season, getting Mune out was quite the assignment.

Murakami finished the regular season with a .207/.347/.478 slash line, an .825 OPS, 35 home runs, 77 RBIs and 92 walks in 127 games. Even with a right hamstring strain costing him roughly six weeks from late May into July, the slugger supplied the kind of power the South Side has spent far too long trying to find.

The batting average? Nobody is framing that one, but 35 homers and 92 walks will play, especially when they come with a 130 OPS+ and 2.3 WAR. There was real production underneath the strikeouts and the frustrating stretches.

His Baseball Savant profile tells that story in rather dramatic shades of red and blue. Murakami finished in the 100th percentile in barrel rate, the 99th percentile in hard-hit and walk rates, and the 98th percentile in average exit velocity. When he connected, pitchers generally had reason to turn around. Making that connection consistently was the problem.

His whiff and strikeout rates both landed in the first percentile, while his expected batting average sat in the second. Yet his chase rate ranked in the 91st percentile, a useful distinction: Murakami could lay off pitches outside the zone and still struggle mightily to put bat to ball. The power was elite. The patience was there. The contact remains a work in progress.

That combination made for a rookie season with some awfully high highs and a difficult landing. Through his first 74 games, Murakami had already launched 24 of his eventual 35 home runs and looked like someone the White Sox should be discussing a future with immediately. August and September were considerably less fun.

Those struggles followed him into Soxtober, when he hit .185/.258/.296 with a .554 OPS, one homer, five RBIs, three walks and 15 strikeouts in 27 at-bats. It was a rough ending for a hitter who had given the offense so much early electricity. Still, the entire season counts, and it gave Chicago plenty to build on.

When the Sox signed Murakami to a two-year, $34 million contract on Dec. 21, 2025, the surprise extended well beyond the South Side. This franchise isn’t usually the one landing an accomplished international slugger while the rest of baseball watches.

Mune arrived with quite the résumé: consecutive Central League MVP awards in 2021 and 2022, four NPB All-Star selections, the 2019 Central League Rookie of the Year award and a 2021 Japan Series championship with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. In 2022, he captured the Triple Crown by hitting .318 with 56 home runs and 134 RBIs. Those 56 homers established the single-season record for a Japanese-born player.

Questions about how his swing would handle major-league velocity and breaking stuff accompanied him to Chicago. His first season offered evidence of both the enormous upside and the adjustments still ahead.

There was a defensive transition, too. Primarily a third baseman in Japan, Murakami moved to first for the Sox and finished with -2 Fielding Run Value. The bat was always going to carry this particular investment.

Now, the question is how long Chicago can keep it around. According to Bruce Levine, general manager Chris Getz said Tuesday that extension discussions with Murakami’s representatives began in late summer and remain ongoing. A longer stay would give Mune time to make those adjustments — and Sox fans more opportunities to watch baseballs disappear.

The broader awards slate also includes several familiar names: Dylan Cease and Chris Sale are finalists for their respective leagues’ Outstanding Pitcher awards, Chris Bassitt is up for Marvin Miller Man of the Year and Jake Burger is a Philanthropist of the Year finalist. Plenty of former South Siders will be represented when the winners are revealed later this month.

This time, there’s a current one worth celebrating, too.

LOS ANGELES — Amid Dodgers despair, Shohei Ohtani provided a sliver of hope.

Maybe more.

It was the bottom of the eighth inning on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with the Dodgers on their way to a 6-2 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League championship series, when Ohtani stepped to the plate.

Two out. No one on.

Ohtani, stuck in a horrendous hitting slump, jumped on the first pitch, a 96-mph sinker from Brewers reliever DL Hall. The Dodgers superstar laced it right back up the middle for a single to center.

Hall nearly got hit as the ball rocketed off Ohtani’s bat with a reported exit velocity of 113.5 mph. It was the top exit velocity of the game, according to Baseball Savant, and considered elite-level velocity.

Of course it did nothing to slow the Brewers, who took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS. But it looked like signature Shohei, unfurling a quick, powerful swing.

In MLB history, the 2004 Boston Red Sox became the only team to rally from a 3-0 deficit. It’s hard to imagine Ohtani leading the Dodgers to such an unthinkable comeback. He still hasn’t homered since Aug. 18 while dealing with an assortment of injuries.

But then there were the Dodgers fans posting video of Ohtani’s eighth-inning single from Game 3.

"Perfect," wrote one commenter. "Too early to give up."

Ohtani and the Dodgers will try to stave off elimination Thursday, Oct. 15, with Game 4 set to start at Dodger Stadium at 8 p.m. ET.

Shohei Ohtani's woes

The Dodgers broached the possibility of taking Ohtani out of the lineup for Game 3 before he convinced them otherwise. Other than the eighth-inning single, there was no extraordinary evidence that he is on the verge of going on a tear – or producing his first extra-base hit in 11 games. The last one was a double Sept. 24 against the San Francisco Giants.

In the postseason, he is batting .182 (4 for 22) with seven strikeouts.

But then, amid a demoralizing loss in Game 3 of the NCLS, Ohtani provided a jolt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shohei Ohtani provides Dodgers with a sliver of hope. Here's why.

For the past few months, over most of the baseball season, MLB has aired commercials educating the public on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations. The message has repeatedly outlined that fans are losing out due to the lack of parity among the teams while touting a salary cap and floor as the solution.

If the fans are outraged by the players’ refusal to consider a salary cap/floor, MLB believes it will hold a negotiating advantage.

For its part, the MLBPA contends that a cap and floor are not needed and that it is a ploy by the owners to limit player salaries and benefits. All of the proposals made by MLB up to this point in the negotiating process are contingent on the players accepting the cap and floor as the baseline.

Baseball is broken

There is no doubt the economics of baseball are broken. The playing field is far from level when a few teams can spend up to five times as much on payroll as the teams at the bottom.

It is not acceptable for some owners to use their teams as a cash cow to line their own pockets while never believably attempting to win.

Obviously, this system needs to be fixed. But is a cap and floor going to fix it?

Is there a parity problem in baseball, or is it just the excesses of out-of-control billionaire ownership groups that try to buy championships instead of competing more traditionally?

What is parity in this market?

The last small-market team to win the World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015. Over the past 10 years, top-10-payroll-ranked teams have taken the prize. Lower-market teams have competed but not gone all the way.

In 2026, three of the four teams remaining in the playoffs are in the bottom 11 in payroll, with the lowest payroll in baseball belonging to the Cleveland Guardians. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers are ranked second, a few million behind the New York Mets for the top spot.

The Dodgers’ payroll is $340.6 million, with another $180.8 million in luxury tax (payroll tracker). Their luxury tax penalty is more than the payrolls of the other three playoff teams. Combined, the Milwaukee Brewers ($143.7 million), Tampa Bay Rays ($98.5 million), and Cleveland Guardians ($74.4 million) total $316.6 million, less than the Dodgers ‘ regular-season payroll.

We don’t know how this season’s playoffs will turn out. At this point, it looks unlikely that the Dodgers will achieve their coveted three-peat for the World Series.

Whoever wins, the point is that MLB doesn’t have a parity problem in the realm of team success. The Guardians and Brewers have been winning for a while now, despite not getting the top prize… yet.

MLB has a Dodgers problem

Smaller market teams can compete. They just have to work harder to achieve success. They have to maximize financial deals, have a smart administrative team making decisions, and their baseball operations have to draft and develop well.

The Dodgers don’t have to do any of those things. With their huge TV deal, merchandising income from their popularity and their superstar players, as well as the huge market they play in, the money is pouring in. They are the poster child for lack of parity.

The Dodgers can make mistakes, have endless injuries, overpay for underperforming players, and still win the NL West every season. No other team in baseball can do what they do. The Mets spend more money and are still a bad team. The organization is a mess and is wasting its advantage.

The real problem is that the Dodgers start every season with an advantage no other team can come close to achieving. They can outspend and outbid most every team in MLB for any player they want. Everyone else can only get a player if the Dodgers don’t want them.

MLB supports the chosen few

Major League Baseball supports the Dodgers in their process. The league makes a lot of money with what the Dodgers are doing. Their justification is that everyone benefits financially because of the luxury tax. The league’s contention is that the real problem is the underspending teams that refuse to try. Those are the teams ruining baseball.

Many of us remember when the Padres were pursuing Yankees free agent Aaron Judge. Offering him a huge contract, the Padres lost out to the Yankees, and Judge returned to the fold. MLB made it clear that they would not have approved that deal anyway. It wasn’t sustainable for a small-market team already committed to multiple big contracts. Peter Seidler got his hand slapped.

Where the Padres stand in this situation

Former owner Peter Seidler spent money when he didn’t really have it to spend. He was determined to turn the Padres into a winning organization and believed that the financials would work out when the success began. 

Signing long and lucrative contracts with players who couldn’t possibly fulfill those contracts will hamstring this team for years to come. Aging players drag a team down; especially a team like the Padres, who now have to fill out their roster with a fixed payroll that begins at over $100 million with those guaranteed contracts.

New controlling owners José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones have taken over at a tenuous time in baseball. They are saying all the right things about being motivated to fulfill Peter Seidler’s legacy. What happens this offseason may not indicate their intentions.

This offseason could be hampered by the CBA negotiations, a lockout, and a delay to Spring Training and the season. Depending on how all that plays out, the ownership group might or might not get an opportunity to show what they want to accomplish.

The Padres have figured out a way to maximize profits in their limited media market. Fan attendance and enthusiasm help, and so does maximizing the use of Petco Park for non-baseball events. Merchandising is also a help, as two Padres players rank in the top 20 (Fernando Tatis Jr. No. 5, Jackson Merrill No. 18) for jersey sales in MLB.

The Friars finished 2026 with a payroll of $224,019,413 and will pay $8,280,316 in luxury taxes. 

They ended up with the fifth-highest payroll in baseball. MLB points to the Padres as the poster child for what can happen when an organization makes a real effort to win in a limited market. But all of the Friar Faithful know that we can never hope to compete with the Dodgers for a division title the way things stand. Not when they have their resources and ability to overcome any and all hurdles.

That means a Wild Card berth is the likely route to the playoffs. A much longer and more difficult road to travel.

The owners need to work for real parity 

The goal of the CBA negotiations should be to level the playing field by limiting organizations that can overspend above what any other team can. A cap and floor might do that, but current teams would have to be grandfathered into whatever is agreed to, as there are contracts that can’t be changed. It would only prevent future abuses of the system.

The road ahead for baseball is fraught with financial uncertainty. The unprecedented popularity of the Friars in San Diego is based on their success. Any agreement reached has to support teams in smaller markets so that they can compete with the big market behemoths. Not enough is being done currently to guarantee that outcome.

Hello everyone and happy Thursday!

Here’s everything you may have missed from the baseball world yesterday.

MLB Postseason scores…

• The Dodgers are just one game away from being swept in the NLCS following a 6-2 Brewers victory powered by a trio of homers.

In Mariners news…

• David Laurila at Fangraphs spoke to Mariners prospect Boston Smith, who was acquired by the team in the Luis Castillo trade and is now playing in the Arizona Fall League.
• Kate Preusser caught up with up-and-coming Mariners prospect Jarvis Gomez following his breakout performance in the Dominican Summer League.
• Over on The Feed, Tommy Stokke started a conversation on the biggest Mariners prospect disappointments.

Around the league…

• Major League Baseball unveiled its list of finalists for the 2026 Gold Glove awards. Cole Young is the lone Mariners representative.
• It’s official: Joe Espada will not be returning as Astros manager in 2027, leaving the door wide open for him to take the role with the Mariners should they choose him.
• Despite their massive success this season, the Rays are having trouble filling seats at the Trop. Sam Blum at The Athletic has the story.
• While many teams are slashing their scouting departments, the Mets are expanding theirs, reports Will Sammon at The Athletic.
• The White Sox are locked in on improving their starting rotation this offseason.
• Michael Baumann at Fangraphs explained why the Dodgers pulled Blake Snell in the middle of a great outing against the Brewers.
• Danny Funt spoke to former ESPN producer Nicole Noren, who is speaking out about the sports gambling problem that prompted her exit.

The playoffs are already more than half over, which means the Royals need to be preparing working on their roster for the offseason ahead of the anticipated December 1 lockout that will preclude all roster transactions. The SB Nation offseason simulations may not take place anymore, but I’m not going to let that stop me from attempting to build the 2027 Royals in my own image.

This article is going to focus on preparing the 40-man roster for the offseason. Under the current rules, everyone on the 60-day IL has to be returned to the 40-man roster following the conclusion of the season. Some players will leave as free agents, but the Royals also need to be prepared for a Rule 5 Draft even though one might not happen. You don’t want to be the one team that assumed you didn’t need to worry about it only for it to happen anyway.

The Royals currently have 39 players on the 40-man roster. They also have eight players on the 60-day IL who ostensibly need to be activated and added to the roster. The good news is that Jonathan India is a free agent, so that’s one we don’t have to worry about. Additionally, Carlos Estévez has a club option I’m going to decline. Similarly, I will non-tender Connor Seabold. That leaves us with 44 guys for the 40-man roster, still. However, Craig Kimbrel, Luke Maile, and Josh Rojas are all free agents, too. That gets us to 41. I’ll go ahead and non-tender Easton McGee, and that will get me down to 40.

But that’s not where we stop. Because, as noted above, the Royals need to protect some of their prospects from the Rule 5 draft, just in case it happens. For what it’s worth, it did not happen after the 2021-2022 lockout, but that doesn’t mean things won’t be done differently this time. You can read a breakdown of who is eligible.

Lucas Braun and Carson Roccaforte are no-doubt guys to be added. Both figure to play some kind of role on next year’s big league team, regardless. Unfortunately, no one else seems worth protecting. Most of those guys are too far away to be seriously considered for selections under the current system, which requires players to be offered back to their old teams rather than be demoted. There has been some negotiation around potentially allowing drafted teams to keep those players even when they want to send them to the minors, but I have to imagine that if they made that change and then did hold the Rule 5 draft, teams would get a chance to adjust again beforehand.

To clear those two spots, I will designate Mitch Spence and Matthew Lugo for assignment.

Now let’s address the remainder of our arbitration-eligible players.

• Kyle Isbel (Arb3)
• Nick Mears (Arb3)
• Nate Pearson (Arb3)
• Michael Massey (Arb2)
• Daniel Lynch IV (Arb2)
• Alex Lange (Arb2)
• Anthony Gose (Arb2)
• James McArthur (Arb2)
• Randy Dobnak (Arb2)
• Lucas Erceg (Arb1)
• Alec Marsh (Arb1)

You can read MLB Trade Rumors estimates for arbitration salaries for those players. Out of that list, the easy keeps are Lynch, Massey, and Dobnak. For the salaries they’re likely to get, I think it makes sense to keep Erceg, Gose, and Pearson. I don’t want to pay Kyle Isbel that much to be a fourth outfielder on this team when I have so many cheaper options, but I’m going to try to trade him for a reliever before I have to tender.

That leaves us with Mears, Lange, McArthur, and Marsh. Lange and Mears don’t have options and they were both bad and hurt, so they’re gone. McArthur and Marsh are more difficult. I really like both players – they each had long-ish stretches of being quite good before being hurt – so I think we can tender them for now and not much money is lost if we end up not being able to keep them. Plus, the longer we have them, hopefully the easier it would be to get them to come back on a minor league deal if we end up needing the 40-man room.

The Yankees need some center field defense help; let’s deal Kyle Isbel to them for Bradley Hanner. Hanner strikes guys out, but he doesn’t have elite stuff, and he’s struggled with walks and home runs at times. Plus, he’s already 27. He’s not a flamethrower, but if Sweeney and company can turn him into a useful middle relief piece for Kyle Isbel, I think I’d be pretty happy with that.

So that leaves us with 38 men on the roster and plenty of holes to still fill. Just to reiterate, the Royals need a lot of relief help, some starting pitching, and a bat or two for the outfield. We haven’t added anything yet, minus that one reliever. That’s for next time, though. What do you think so far?

Good morning A’s fans!

The reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers lost last night, putting themselves into an 0-3 hole to the #1 seeded Milwaukee Brewers. This series was a battle between baseball’s highest payroll squad at $339 million and the sport’s 19th-ranked payroll. The fact that the Brewers are beating the Dodgers so handily goes to show that money doesn’t guarantee regular or postseason success (though it’s definitely easier to attain).

Meanwhile the Rays and Guardians are duking it out in the American League and are bottom-dwellers among the sport’s spenders as well. If you were to combine the Rays, Guardians, and Brewers payroll, it still wouldn’t match the Dodgers’ payroll this season.

After two years it looks like Los Angeles’ time as champion is coming to an end and it’ll be a low-spending team that’s going to knock them off and be crowned the new World Series Champion. Will that affect the negotiations between the league and players this offseason as they strive for a deal? Or would both sides entrench even further and all but guarantee some lost games?

Either way, for now, the vast majority of baseball fans are ready to see a new team crowned champion. For the Guardians, it’s been 78 years since they’ve won it all. They just got their hearts broken recently in 2016 when they lost in extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series to the Chicago Cubs, who had an even longer championship drought, so for them it’d finally redeem their loss exactly 10 years ago.

As for the Rays and Brewers, neither of them have ever won it all. The Brewers are much older than the Rays as they’ve been around since 1970 compared to the Rays’ existence beginning in 1998, though the Rays already have them beat with two appearances in the Fall Classic (2008, 2020) compared to one for the Brewers (1982). If we end up getting a Rays-Brewers World Series, then one team will be hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy for the first time.

While the World Series is getting closer and closer, MLB has begun it’s first round of announcing award nominees, beginning with the potential Gold Glovers this year. While the A’s had Luis Severino and Tyler Soderstrom as final three at their respective positions of pitcher and left field last year, there weren’t any A’s among this season’s nominees.

That’s not entirely surprising. The A’s haven’t had much luck in the defense department over the past few years, with Sevy and Sodey representing the sole Gold Glove nominees for the Green & Gold since 2022. With better health next year hopefully Soderstrom gets another nomination and gets joined by a teammate as well.

We got both LCS games going today, starting with the Rays and Guardians at 10 a.m. Have a great day everyone.

A’s Coverage:

• Pitching prospect Huggins growing his game with the help of this A’s Hall of Famer
• Phillies, Cubs executives reportedly among top Athletics GM candidates
• Fuld Rejection Offers Possible Clues To GM Search
• Matt Kleine, Rob Cerfolio Candidates In Athletics’ GM Search
• ’Be a sponge’: No. 19 prospect leads A’s Fall League group with do-it-all mentality
• Zack Of All Trades Tries To Get One More Win: In Court
• Important Dates For The Athletics This Offseason
• 12 A’s Players Out of Options Heading Into 2027
• How MLB’s Proposed Changes Would Impact the A’s
• A’s part ways with assistant hitting, quality control coaches
• After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko
• Why 2027 Athletics Will Be Completely Different Team
• A’s Las Vegas ballpark cost rises to $2.1B, public funding delayed
• 2026: Year Of The “Didn’t See That Coming!”
• A’s Hoping Luis Severino Chooses to Stay
• Where the A’s Plan to Use Zack Gelof in 2027
• Drafting The Top AL Graduated MLB Prospects From 2026
• Devin Taylor: Athletics 2026 Minor League Player Of The Year
• Athletics 2026 MLB Draft Report Card
• Henry Bolte Is the A’s Next Budding Star
• Determining Athletics’ Offensive MVP for the 2026 Season
• Notes From Star-Studded Rockies-A’s Instructional League
• 2027 Infield Landscape Ever Changing
• “Fast Movers” Might Be Key To Contention
• Billy Beane comments on the job Mark Kotsay has done this season.
• Should Mark Kotsay return in 2027? A’s Players Weigh In
• What the A’s Hiring Mike Rizzo would Signal and the Questions it Would Raise
• Athletics Considering James Click For GM Vacancy
• Get the best of Athletics Nation on the new SB Nation app

MLB News & Interest:

• Clutch homers have Brewers 1 win away from 1st World Series appearance in 44 years
• 2026 Gold Glove Award finalists revealed
• Astros will not renew contract of manager Joe Espada
• Phillies hire Don Mattingly to 2-year deal as manager
• Chourio’s history-making 1st-pitch HR comes 1 year to the day after he did the same thing
• Updated Thursday start times: 1 ET (ALCS Game 3), 8 ET (NLCS Game 4)
• Guardians to start Gavin Williams vs. Rays’ Griffin Jax in Game 3
• White Sox To Pursue Starting Pitching This Offseason
• One stat from each farm system that caught our eye in 2026
• Previewing The Righty Relief Class
• He retired a decade ago, but Brewers wouldn’t be who they are now without him
• Phillies Not Retaining Kevin Long, Bobby Dickerson
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

AFL update:

A’S IN THE AFL TODAY (10/14)
C Davis Diaz: 2-3, 2 BB, SB, 2 RBI
RF Breyson Guedez: 1-4, 2 RBI
LHP Grant Richardson: 2.1 IP/1 H/2 ER/1 BB/3 K/Win
RHP Kenya Huggins: 2 IP/0 H/0 ER/0 BB/1 K
Mesa Solar Sox win 7-3

— Bill Moriarity – A's Farm (@AthleticsFarm) October 15, 2026

Some love for a prospect in the AFL:

#Athletics lefty prospect Grant Richardson is happy, healthy and at home in the Fall League: https://t.co/wiIN1hxpyFpic.twitter.com/PDF0iG2dA3

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) October 15, 2026

It’s been 20 years since the Athletics last played in an ALCS game:

Down 3 games to 0, the Oakland Athletics needed to get off to a fast start and that’s exactly what they did.

The A’s score 2 runs in the top of the first inning as they look to keep their season alive today. pic.twitter.com/m36sfXiF1j

— 20 Years Ago Sports (@20YearsAgoSport) October 14, 2026

Should the A’s bring Heim back?

Even though he had his struggles down the stretch in 2026, the #Athletics need to bring back Jonah Heim next season.

Read about what he can bring to the table in 2027:https://t.co/LQiNhQ2lUJ

— Dylan Quinn (@dylanq_2) October 14, 2026

Another point in favor of no salary cap:

Four clear examples in 2026 why a salary cap and salary floor isn't necessarily needed in MLB…

• $347M – Mets (last)

• $276M – Blue Jays (last)

• $96M – Rays (ALCS)

• $74M – Guardians (ALCS)

— Dan Clark (@DanClarkSports) October 14, 2026

Would you want the A’s to go after Dave Roberts?

It’s been a good run. Not saying he had a perfect roster to work with, but I think it’s time the Dodgers move on from Dave Roberts. If he does have control over lineup & relief decisions, really bad choices this series.

— dodgerdan (@dodgerdan213) October 15, 2026

Okay, this is good:

Could I, a 6'9 260 lb able-bodied man, beat this team's nickname in a fight? pic.twitter.com/J6Q7x484gj

— Greggory (43.5%) (@greggtmasterson) October 14, 2026

The Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves on the brink of elimination and are watching their World Series hopes come to an end.

As Bill Shakin of the L.A. Times details, pretty much all of the moves that manager Dave Roberts made in Game 3 came back to bite him in the patookus. From non-pitching changes to wasting bench players, nothing worked to help the Dodgers keep their short-lived lead.

Despite being down 3-0, the players and Roberts continue to say there is room for optimism. Roberts, famously, was part of the Red Sox team that came back from being down 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. As Jim Alexander of the OC Register covers, Roberts doesn’t think he’ll turn to those stories to motivate his team now.

“Absolutely not,” he said with a laugh. “Then I’ll lose them. I don’t know if some of those guys even know I played. No, absolutely not.”

The team continues to say all the right things, that they believe in Game 4 starter Tyler Glasnow, and themselves.

“Everybody in the team is very confident in his ability and the stuff that’s coming out of his hand and doing his job,” (Tarik) Skubal said of Glasnow.

“I feel great about Glas,” utility man Kiké Hernández added. “He’s got some of the best stuff in the game. I feel like our pitchers have given us a chance every day to win a game, and we just haven’t hit. So we just got to hit.”

Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times covers those quotes and more optimistic thoughts from the team here.

Another reason to maybe have some hope is that Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith, two players who have not been able to contribute much at all this postseason had their best nights at the plate so far. Ohtani got on base three times, and Smith had an RBI double that brought in the Dodgers’ only runs of the night.

Game 4 is at Dodgers Stadium Thursday evening, to be determined if it’s the last game there for a long time.

To end with a fun little nugget to maybe make you smile, Max Muncy has been named a finalist for the Gold Glove Award at third base, and Manny Machado has not. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic covers all those details here.

Although several fans may have a contrasting opinion, former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi gave Aaron Boone praise for his managerial duties throughout the season.

Another season came and went without the Yankees securing their 28th World Series title, and the majority of fans are just about fed up. It’s gotten to the point where they’re actively calling for the jobs of both Boone and general manager Brian Cashman after getting swept by the Rays in a three-game ALDS, their first such dusting in a best-of-five since 1980.

During a recent appearance on a podcast with MLB insiders Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Girardi defended his successor’s decision-making this season and even went as far to say that this year was a highlight in Boone’s managerial career.

“I think you could argue this was his best year of managing,” Girardi told Sherman and Heyman. “I think he got the most out of this team during the course of the season, with all they had to deal with and the way they won games. He had to flip the way they won games. They had to win games from a pitching standpoint, different from the past, when they would win just by out-slugging people. He couldn’t do that this year, and I think he ran the bullpen extremely well and got the most out of those guys.”

Girardi went on to indicate that the Yankees’ offense was one of the main factors holding them back, and that it wasn’t Boone’s fault. His point, as much as fans may disagree, is that the players need to be held accountable for their performances and need to hold themselves to a higher standard. Even without Aaron Judge for 96 games and the entire playoffs, there were enough players in that locker room with résumés that should have led to better numbers. They posted a .230/.297/.394 triple slash in 102 games from the time of Judge’s first IL stint onward, good for only a 93 wRC+, sixth-worst in baseball.

“It’s really hard to me to judge a manager unless he does something egregious, and I can’t say he did anything that was truly egregious. It’s a short series and these guys didn’t hit. It’s not like you were facing a team that won 81 games, you were facing the best team in the American League during the course of the season. You were facing some really good starting pitching, and again, offensively, I thought they were challenged the whole year. Without Aaron Judge, they’re a different offensive club.”

Some would classify putting Trent Grisham in the leadoff spot in an elimination game as egregious, but others may consider that a bit hyperbolic.

This marks Boone’s 17th season as Yankee skipper, with one pennant and one World Series appearance to show for it. Fans are calling for a change, but according to Girardi, it doesn’t have to be at the top step of the dugout. Girardi also stated that if the opportunity arose, he would consider returning to a managerial role in the league.

Major League Baseball announced its finalists for the 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards on Wednesday. Neither Manny Machado nor Fernando Tatis Jr. were nominated despite both having excellent defensive seasons. Ty France and Freddie Fermin got the nod.

Machado gets robbed

Third baseman Manny Machado, 34, finished the 2026 regular season with a +12 Outs Above Average in the National League. It was the top rating of any third baseman in the NL. After making 16 errors in 2025, Machado made three errors in 2026 and had his highest OAA since 2023.

The three finalists are Alex Bregman (Chicago Cubs) with a +9 OAA, Javier Sanoja (Miami Marlins) with a +6 OAA and Max Muncy (Los Angeles Dodgers) with a -1 OAA. 

Fielding Run Value is a stat used by analysts to put a value on a player’s overall defensive performance by calculating how many runs they save or cost their team compared to an average player.

Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson leads all of baseball’s corner infielders with a +12 FRV, followed by Ty France with a +10 FRV and then Machado with an +8 FRV. Bregman is tied with multiple other players at +7 FRV.

Apparently, analytics don’t weigh heavily with these finalists.

Tatis Jr. sacrifices for the team

Fernando Tatis Jr. is the recipient of two Gold Glove and two Platinum Glove Awards over the past three seasons as a right fielder in the National League. During the 2026 season, Tatis started 104 games in right field. He also started 50 games at second base. Some could argue he would not be a candidate for the Gold Glove because he was essentially a utility player. 

But the nominating committee gave third baseman Javier Sanoja a nomination as a finalist despite playing multiple positions for the Marlins during the season.

Carson Benge, right fielder for the New York Mets, had a +1 OAA while Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs had a +5 OAA, and Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks had a +10 OAA.

Tatis ended with a +4 OAA.

Tatis comes in behind all three in FRV, finishing with a +3 rating just behind Carroll at +4 FRV. Both Benge at +8 FRV and Suzuki at +8 FRV are tied at the top for corner outfielders.

Splitting time between two positions seems to have cost Tatis a chance at another Gold Glove nomination.

Jackson Merrill loses out again

Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill finished 2026 with a +7 OAA for his position, losing out as a finalist. Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs leads all of baseball with a +26 OAA. The other two finalists are Michael Harris II of the Atlanta Braves with a +14 OAA and Andy Pages of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a +9 OAA.

Ty France and Freddie Fermin make the final list

Padres first baseman Ty France led in almost all defensive categories for first basemen through the season. Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson came on strong as the season developed and finished with a +12 OAA to France’s +7 OAA. Olson also had a +12 FRV compared to France’s +10 FRV. The third nominee was TJ Rumfield for the Colorado Rockies.

Catcher Freddie Fermin joined Gabriel Moreno of the D-backs and Luis Torrens of the Mets as nominees for 2026. 

Fermin excels in defensive metrics, accumulating a +9 FRV, while Moreno has +7 FRV and Torrens has a +10 FRV. Catchers aren’t assigned OAA ratings, as those are just for position players and reflect range as part of the assessment.

Fermin also finished with a +10 in blocks above average and +6 in caught stealing above average. His 1.88 pop time ranks in the 86th percentile.

Awards are given on Sunday, November 1

The winners will be announced on Nov. 1 and broadcast on ESPN.

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Padres News:

• Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller and manager Craig Stammen met with the media on Wednesday and talked about the 2026 season and provided insight about what the offseason will look like.

• Joe Musgrove enters the offseason with an undefined role but Preller and Stammen know he will contribute in 2027.

• Dennis Lin of The Athletic provides his takes from the Padres’ end of season news conference and tries to decipher what it all means.

Baseball News:

• The Milwaukee Brewers are one game away from a trip to the World Series after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game at Dodger Stadium to take a 3-0 series lead.

• Here are the updated game times for the NLCS and ALCS games today.

• Here is the full list of Gold Glove Award nominees from the American League and National League.

Morning, all!

The Rangers’ outfielders were a collective bust in 2026, with Evan Carter showing elite defense in center field and superlatively poor performance at the plate and Wyatt Langford continuing a downward trend.

Four Rangers were named finalists forthe Gold Glove award.

The Brewers have taken a 3-0 lead in the NLCS and are within spitting difference of their first World Series appearance in 44 years.