There was no way of knowing how Brandon Sproat would handle high-stakes pressure and responsibility with the Mets' postseason hopes hanging in the balance. But what the rookie right-hander offered in the opener of a season-altering series didn't lower the panic meter.
With sole possession of the NL's third wild-card spot on the line, Sproat found himself in the midst of growing frustrations on Friday night, as he couldn't complete his second turn through the Marlins' lineup in the Mets' lifeless 6-2 loss at LoanDepot Park. The letdown dropped them to 82-78 and into a tie with the Reds, who own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
"We've put ourselves in this position," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "Here we are, we've got to come back tomorrow and the next day now. We've got to win the next two now and see what happens. But we did it to ourselves."
The disheartening outing from Sproat didn't start on a sour note. He cruised through the first four innings with a 2-0 lead, and while he plunked two and walked one before giving up his first hit in the fourth, there weren't any warning signs of a meltdown. But the Mets' fears were soon realized.
Sproat fell apart in the fifth, allowing back-to-back singles and then a disastrous game-tying triple. He shook off the brutal sequence by inducing a pair of groundouts, but a two-out single knocked him out of the game, and then Gregory Soto threw gasoline onto the fire by allowing an additional three runs.
"The fastball had been working all night. That inning, they just found a couple barrels," Sproat said. "It's kind of something you learn from... You've got to be present every single inning. I was still present there. They put a couple of hits together, and it didn't go my way. That's baseball, that's the game."
In a critical game, Sproat fell short of a quality appearance. He struck out a season-low two across 4.2 innings (61 pitches), and with four runs charged to his ledger, he wrapped up his first September in the majors with a 4.79 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over four appearances (20.2 innings).
Sproat fell victim to some hard contact, and shoddy defense from his teammates contributed to the fifth-inning implosion. But the Mets needed length and efficiency from the youngster -- even if the request seemed unfair to someone with little big league experience.
The Mets will enter Saturday in must-win mode -- another loss and a Reds win would seal fates and knock them out of playoff contention.
The Yankees extended their winning streak to six games on Friday night, as timely power from their superstar sluggers lifted them to an 8-4 win over the last-place Orioles at Yankee Stadium.
However, for a third straight night, they were unable to claim sole possession of first place in the AL East. The division-rival Blue Jays still own the head-to-head tiebreaker, and they wrapped up Friday with a 4-2 home win over the Rays.
The worst-case scenario for the Yankees hasn't changed. If they fail to leap ahead of the Blue Jays before the regular season ends on Sunday, they'll host a best-of-three Wild Card series next week. Their opponent could be the Red Sox, Guardians, Tigers, or Astros. These four teams are vying for two spots.
Here are the takeaways...
-- Last weekend at Camden Yards, the Yankees struggled mightily against Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers, who struck out seven across six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to a stellar 1.35. But history didn't repeat itself in The Bronx, as a quick first-inning swing from Giancarlo Stanton with two outs and one runner on produced a clutch two-run shot to right-center. The veteran slugger's 22nd homer of the season traveled 397 feet with an exit velocity of 109 mph. Stanton appears wide-awake from a long September slumber -- he entered Thursday hitting a measly .175 this month and then delivered a game-altering three-run double to help the Yankees sweep the White Sox.
-- Will Warren couldn't have looked any sharper through two innings, as he faced the minimum by inducing three strikeouts and three flyouts on 26 total pitches. But the rookie right-hander lost that groove in the third, and his mess frustratingly started against the No. 9 hitter with two outs already recorded. After giving up an infield single and a walk, Warren served up a three-run homer to Jordan Westburg that placed the Orioles ahead. Before completing the frame, Warren allowed one more single and received a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake. He needed 30 pitches to escape the jam.
-- Much to the Yankees' delight, the Orioles couldn't even hold the one-run lead for an inning. With one out and a runner on first in the third, Aaron Judge clobbered a Rogers sinker that narrowly cleared the center-field wall for a two-run blast. It was homer No. 52 on the season for the Yankees' captain, and his 110-mph liner traveled 423 feet with a low 23-degree launch angle. Then, seven pitches later, Judge's behemoth teammate inflicted more damage off Rogers, as Stanton demolished a two-run shot to left-center that flew over the Orioles' bullpen. A homer in all 30 ballparks -- it traveled a whopping 451 feet.
-- The Yankees' power surge couldn't have been predicted with confidence. Rogers entered Friday's outing with just three homers allowed across 106.2 innings this season, and he'd logged 15 straight appearances with two or fewer runs on his ledger. With a few swings from Stanton and Judge, his homer total doubled. The Orioles didn't ask for a fourth inning of work from Rogers, who threw 52 pitches -- they turned to the bullpen instead.
-- The three-run cushion helped Warren settle back in. While he allowed a two-out double in the fourth, he induced two strikeouts in that inning and then completed a scoreless fifth with another punchout. The fifth-inning strikeout pushed his season total to 171, the second-most from a rookie in franchise history. Warren couldn't register an out in the sixth, however -- a leadoff homer to Tyler O'Neill cut the Yankees' lead to 6-4 and forced a call to the bullpen. He left the mound with seven strikeouts and a 4.44 season ERA (four runs on six hits and one walk, 81 total pitches).
-- The Yankees were wise to pull Warren after the solo homer, but the reliever they turned to first made everyone sweat. Mark Leiter Jr. quickly found himself in a bases-loaded jam after seeing Paul Goldschmidt botch a chopper at first and walking a pair. With two outs and the tying run at second, Tim Hill was called upon to clean up the mess, and he did just that by getting Jackson Holliday to ground out. The Yankees placed pressure on Orioles reliever Yennier Cano in the bottom of the sixth, and after a pair of singles from Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe, their lead was bumped to 7-4 on an RBI single from Austin Wells. The seventh inning belonged to Fernando Cruz -- he walked a pair but kept the Orioles from scoring.
-- An insurance run arrived for the Yankees in the seventh. A single from Goldschmidt, a walk from Judge, and another single from Cody Bellinger set the bases loaded for -- guess who? -- Stanton with no outs. The wish for a three-homer game didn't come true, though -- he had to settle for an RBI groundout that pushed the lead to 8-4. The Orioles had a chance to turn two on the chopper to third, but Westburg opted not to throw home. The rally could've been greater, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out and Volpe popped out to end the threat.
-- Camilo Doval pitched with confidence for a sixth straight appearance, striking out the side in a scoreless eighth and lowering his ERA from 3.64 to 3.58. With a four-run lead, the ninth inning didn't present a save situation for David Bednar, but the Yankees wanted their closer on the mound with the stakes still high. Due to a walk and an infield single, he found himself in a jam with runners on the corners and one out. Bednar didn't waver, though -- he struck a pair to seal the deal.
Game MVP: Giancarlo Stanton
For a second straight night, Stanton lifted the Yankees to victory. He's driven in eight runs over the last two games.
The Mets got to Sandy Alcantara early but couldn't tack on before the Marlins plated six in the fifth inning as New York fell, 6-2, on Friday night in Miami.
Here are the takeaways...
-The Mets got off to a quick start thanks to Francisco Lindor, again. The Mets' shortstop launched a solo shot off of Alcantara to draw blood first. Juan Soto singled and stole second before scoring on a one-out double by Pete Alonso to give the Mets an early 2-0 lead.
Lindor also plated another in the second. After Francisco Alvarez, starting at DH, and Luis Torrens hit singles before the shortstop lined a one-out missile toward the right field line, Marlins first baseman Troy Johnson snagged the potential double and stepped on first for the double play.
-Alcantara dominated the Mets back on Aug. 31, pitching seven one-run innings at Citi Field. And after that two-run first, Alcantara hunkered down and scattered base runners. Mets batters were hitting the former Cy Young winner hard in this one, but it didn't amount to much. The Mets would get just two hits after that first inning -- the last in the third -- against Alcantara, who retired 13 straight before coming out for the eighth inning. He walked Lindor on four pitches to start and was pulled after seven-plus dominant innings. Alcantara tossed 100 pitches (66 strikes), allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three batters.
The Mets would catch a break in the eighth after Alcantara was pulled. Soto grounded into a force out before Brandon Nimmo hit a tailor-made double play ball to Xavier Edwards, but the second baseman flipped the ball poorly to Otto Lopez covering second to allow Soto to reach safely. Alonso struck out swinging, but Jeff McNeil walked to load the bases for a pinch-hitting Mark Vientos. Vientos popped out to shallow left field to end the threat.
New York finished 1-for-10 with RISP and left seven runners on base.
-Brandon Sproat was cruising early. Aside from some hit-by-pitches, he pitched three no-hit innings before a leadoff single in the fourth put an end to that bid. But even still, Sproat threw just five pitches to get out of the fourth, thanks in large part to a double play. But the Marlins finally got to Sproat in the fifth after a leadoff single and a double off the glove of Alonso put runners on the corners with no outs. Heriberto Hernandez dropped a triple just fair down the right field line to drive in two. After Alonso had a putout that kept Hernandez at third, Jakob Marsee hit another liner to Alonso, but the first baseman could not field it properly and the Mets had to settle for the putout at first as Hernandez scampered home to give the Marlins the 3-2 lead.
After Agustin Ramirez hit a two-out single, the night was over for Sproat after 4.2 innings (61 pitches/39 strikes). Ramirez would steal second and third off of Gregory Soto -- Ronny Mauricio failed to cover third when Soto had Ramirez caught stealing -- before Xavier Edwards' single pushed across the fourth run of the inning. Pinch-hitter Connor Norby followed by taking Soto deep to give Miami a 6-2 lead before the inning mercifully ended.
The Marlins hit Sproat hard in the fifth and kept the young right-hander from getting through the inning. He allowed four runs on five hits and one walk while striking out just two batters.
-The Mets' bullpen had to get 52 outs in the three-game series in Chicago and were tasked to get more on Friday. In relief of Sproat, Soto was not good. The southpaw allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in 1.1 innings pitched. Huascar Brazoban pitched a scoreless inning and Kyle Herget worked around a leadoff double to pitch a scoreless eighth.
-Carlos Mendoza put out a different-looking lineup on Friday. Aside from Alvarez playing DH, Cedric Mullins started in center because Mendoza didn't want Tyrone Taylor to play three straight games coming off the IL. Mullins went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Dodgers pitcher Brock Stewart delivers against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 6. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
When the Dodgers traded for Brock Stewart at the trade deadline, they knew he came with some risk.
But on Friday, their worst-case scenario was realized.
Stewart will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, manager Dave Roberts announced, leaving the Dodgers without the only significant deadline addition they made to bolster their struggling bullpen.
Although the Dodgers have been managing several injury concerns — from Will Smith’s fractured hand, to Tommy Edman’s sore ankle, to leg bruises that Max Muncy revealed on Friday he has been dealing with — Stewart’s status had become among the most alarming.
Even after completing a minor-league rehab stint for a shoulder problem that had kept him out since early August, he continued to feel residual soreness.
After meeting with head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache this week, Stewart and the team decided surgery would be best. According to general manager Brandon Gomes, the 33-year-old is having a debridement procedure that should allow him to pitch the “majority” of next season, when he will still be under Dodgers control.
But for this October, the club will have to proceed without him.
"We had a lot of conversations with Brock, and he was like, 'Hey, I want to help this team in any way possible,'” Gomes said. “But watching him throw and just having the conversations with him, there was still something that was just bothering him. As much as we would love to have him right now, we don't want to put his long-term health at risk.”
Shoulder problems are nothing new for Stewart. Last season, he made just 16 appearances with the Minnesota Twins before undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery in August.
While this latest injury is not believed to be directly related to last year’s issue, Gomes did acknowledge that “any time you're taking on a pitcher, we understand that there are risks.”
It’s not that the Dodgers overpaid for Stewart, giving up only former prospect James Outman in their deadline deal with the Twins. But, by not adding a bigger name in a bullpen that had been slumping even before the deadline (and has further spiraled in the two months since), the Dodgers put a lot of eggs in the right-hander’s basket. He was supposed to give the unit some experienced stability. Now, he leaves yet another hole to fill.
Without Stewart, the Dodgers’ right-handed relief hierarchy is somewhat unclear. They still have longtime stalwart Blake Treinen, but he has posted a career-worst 5.47 ERA and dealt with first-half arm troubles. Hard-throwing rookie Edgardo Henriquez has a 2.50 ERA in 21 appearances, but still has just 21⅓ career innings in the big leagues. And then there’s Roki Sasaki, the rookie Japanese phenom who returned from a nearly five-month shoulder injury with an auspicious inning out of the bullpen this week.
Another name that could enter the mix: Starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan, who was scheduled to pitch Friday’s series-opener against the Seattle Mariners but will likely be shifted to a multi-inning relief role out of the bullpen come the postseason.
In any event, however, Stewart’s absence will still hurt. What the Dodgers hoped would be a high-upside play, given his 2.38 ERA with the Twins this season, has instead become yet another bullpen letdown.
Will Smith’s status
Dodgers catcher Will Smith sprints to first after hitting a double against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 9. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Little has changed in Will Smith’s recovery from a hand fracture, with Roberts saying he was “hoping” — but not “hopeful” — about the catcher being available for next week’s best-of-three wild-card round.
“He's going to start trying to swing a bat,” Roberts said. “That'll kind of give us a little bit more information. Potentially start throwing as well.”
Roberts also noted that “each day, Will does say it's feeling a little bit better."
However, given the nature of his injury, “it's just tricky,” Gomes added.
“You never know with bones,” Gomes said. “One day it might feel better and we can really take off. We're not closing off the door to that right now. But we got to make sure to check some boxes before that."
If Smith is not available to catch in the wild-card round, which begins Tuesday, Roberts reiterated that Ben Rortvedt will likely see the “lion’s share” of playing time.
Edman, Muncy getting rest
In better injury news, Roberts sounded hopeful of having Edman and Muncy for the start of the playoffs. On Friday, however, he gave them both a second consecutive day off.
Edman has been dealing with the latest flare-up to his long-bothersome ankle injury, having tweaked it again while running down a fly ball in center field in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s win in Arizona.
“It’s not gonna be 100% throughout the rest of the season. It is something we’re gonna have to keep managing,” Roberts said. “But my thought is he’ll be back in there tomorrow.”
Muncy, meanwhile, revealed Friday that he has been battling some leg bruising, which was at least in part the result of a hit-by-pitch he took to his lower half last week against the San Francisco Giants.
But, like Edman, the Dodgers’ expectation is that he’ll be ready for Game 1.
“It’s just trying to be smart about a couple things,” Muncy said. “Just trying to manage all of that, stay on top of that and hopefully clean all that up.”
TORONTO — The Atlanta Braves claimed and optioned pitcher Alek Manoah on Friday, three days after the former All-Star and 2022 AL Cy Young finalist was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Braves transferred second baseman Ozzie Albies to the 60-day injured list. Albies broke a bone in his left hand on Monday in a game against the Washington Nationals, ending his season.
Manoah was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays to make room on Toronto’s 40-man roster for Anthony Santander to come off the 60-day injured list.
Manoah had been pitching at Triple-A Buffalo, rehabbing a 2024 surgery on his elbow. The right-hander went 1-1 with a 2.97 ERA in seven starts for the Bisons.
After going 9-2 as a rookie in 2021, Manoah went 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in 2022, finishing third in AL Cy Young voting. Last season, Manoah went 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA over five starts spanning 24 1/3 innings before season-ending surgery.
Albies played in Atlanta’s first 157 games this season, batting .240 with 16 home runs and 74 RBIs. He injured the hamate bone on the palm side of the hand near the pinky and ring fingers. Albies fractured his left wrist in July 2024 and missed two months.
Brett Baty exited Friday's crucial series opener against the Marlins with right side soreness.
The young Mets infielder took an at-bat in the top of the first and grounded to second baseman Xavier Edwards for the third out of the inning. During the at-bat, he swung and missed on a pitch and visibly grimaced and tugged at his side. Despite that, he played the field in the bottom half of the frame and made an across-the-body throw to first base on a slow grounder to end the inning.
In between innings, the SNY broadcast caught Baty speaking to trainers in the dugout before he went down into the clubhouse and didn't return. He was replaced in the field by Ronny Mauricio.
"It’s the oblique area, the right side," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "Felt it on that swing. We saw it. He waved me off and then when he made that play, that throw, you could see it. So we got to wait and see tomorrow how he wakes up and if he’s able to do anything."
Mendoza was asked if the injury could end Baty's season and the skipper said there's a possibility.
"It’s too early, but just watching the faces he was making, that area right there is tricky," he said. "Again, we have to wait till tomorrow and see what the severity [is]."
Baty spoke to the media shortly after Mendoza and said his oblique felt good but wants to see how he feels on Saturday.
"I obviously want to play," Baty said. "There's only two days left, so if there's any possibility of me playing, I'm going to play."
If the oblique is injured, the Mets will likely place Baty on the IL. With just two regular season games remaining, it would eliminate him from those contests and likely the Wild Card round if New York gets to the postseason.
The 25-year-old infielder has had a breakout season with the Mets. He's slashing .254/.313/.435 with an OPS of .748 with 18 home runs and 50 RBI. All of those are career-highs for the infielder. Baty has also excelled at his natural position at third base and at second, giving him more versatility for Mendoza to use.
Brett Baty went down the tunnel after grimacing following a swing and a throw from third base in the first inning pic.twitter.com/2oB0Qdsh5f
The question surprised me at first. To say the least.
“Why,” a scout from a contending National League team asked in late July, “are the Yankees making Bellinger available?”
Huh?
And why, the scout went on to ask, were they making it known that they would talk about Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and Trent Grisham, all free-agents-to-be?
When we dug into this with our Yankees sources, it proved true. With the team playing poorly and Aaron Judge facing possible Tommy John surgery, Brian Cashman and staff were in the preliminary stages of considering pivoting to a sale.
I don’t want to overstate this. It never got as far as in 2016, when the Yankees were fully prepared to both buy and sell before choosing the latter. This was more of a thought about selling, followed by the decision to buy in a purposeful but measured way.
Now the Yankees are as confident as anyone heading into the postseason and still fighting to win the American League East. It’s worth remembering how far they traveled to get here -- and how they achieved it by threading the extremely tricky needle of adding to the roster without sacrificing top prospects. It might go down as one of Cashman’s best tricks.
Deadline season began with a more traditional all-in mentality. On July 9, with the team 50-41, Cashman said, "We're going to go to town. We're going to do everything we possibly can to improve ourselves and try to match up.”
For most of the month, the Yankees treaded water at around ten games over .500, but played sloppily and lost too many games to good teams. Leadership was no longer convinced that this was a roster worth the sacrifice in prospects.
Then came the Judge scare. During a period of a few days that ended on July 26, the superstar underwent testing on his right elbow. The Yankees feared that he would need season-ending UCL surgery. Had that occurred, the Yankees might indeed have sold, sources say. They certainly would not have added in an aggressive way.
When Judge learned that he had a flexor strain and would return, Cashman and Co. landed in a middle ground.
They didn’t see it as an all-in year in the way that, say, the team’s only season with Juan Soto did. In that scenario, you focus almost exclusively on the present.
Still, the Yankees knew that their remaining schedule was relatively soft, and their team talented. They began to think of ways to improve the current club without damaging the future too much.
That included concepts that would have moved one big leaguer for another. One example, according to league sources, was a discussion with the Mets about dealing Trent Grishman for Brett Baty. The Mets needed a rental center fielder, while the Yankees sought a controllable third baseman and liked Baty’s lefty swing.
Obviously, that one never progressed. The Yankees addressed third base by acquiring Ryan McMahon from Colorado and continued to eye reasonably priced upgrades, with a particular interest in relievers and right-handed bench players.
On the day before the deadline, the Mets gave the Yankees a scare by paying more than the Yankees were willing for Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley. The Yanks had spoken to the Giants and Cardinals, respectively, about those players, and were not comfortable with the prices.
Once the Mets went there, the Yankees thought that bullpen help might not be attainable this year. But on deadline day itself, prices became more reasonable.
The Yankees were able to acquire closer David Bednar (a home run), Camilo Doval (a project with upside) and Jake Bird (since optioned to Triple-A), in addition to McMahon and bench pieces Jose Cabellero, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater. Not all of these players have helped, but taken together, those lifted the team’s floor.
Plus -- and this might be the most impressive part going forward -- the Yanks did not have to trade Cam Schlittler or top prospects like Spencer Jones, Carlos Legrange, Bryce Cunningham, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz or Ben Hess. The desirability of that group also represents a player development success.
As a result, the Yankees find themselves competing for a championship this year, and anticipating a pitching staff in 2026 stuffed at various junctures with the likes of Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Schlittler, Lagrange, and Luis Gil, with the others knocking at the door.
Not a bad deadline for a front office that, just days earlier, didn’t know which way it should go. The next month will determine if it goes down in Yankee history. Come to think of it, the next few years will, too.
The regular season is only continuing to get closer for the New York Rangers. With this, the Blueshirts undoubtedly have some players to watch incredibly closely.
Among the most notable Rangers who fans should be watching is prospect Brennan Othmann.
Othmann is currently aiming to earn a spot on the Rangers' opening night roster and has plenty of competition to do so. Because of this, the 22-year-old forward will be looking to stand out with each chance he gets from the Rangers as the preseason continues.
Othmann certainly stood out during the Rangers' Sep. 25 preseason matchup against the New York Islanders, as he scored a nice goal on the power play. After receiving a nice feed from Rangers defenseman Scott Morrow, Othmann beat Islanders goaltender David Rittich with an excellent snapshot.
Scoring a goal like this is certainly a good step in the right direction for Othmann, and he will be aiming to build off it from here. Whether he starts the season with the Rangers or in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack, Othmann's goal will be to continue to improve his all-around game. If he does, he could become a nice part of the Rangers' roster in the near future.
SAN FRANCISCO — By just about any measure, this was one of the most memorable nights of Willy Adames’ career.
The Giants shortstop won the Willie Mac Award before the game, and there was no hiding what that meant to him. For the first time all year, he seemed nervous as he accepted the award and gave a speech. Adames then caught ceremonial first pitches from his parents, and when all of the festivities were over, he hit a first-inning homer that got him within one of ending a notorious drought at Oracle Park.
It was a good night for Adames, but right now, it’s hard for him to fully celebrate anything. He came to San Francisco to get the team back to October, and by that measure, this season was a failure.
“For me, obviously (30) is a big deal, but I’m just trying to win, man,” Adames said Friday night. “I don’t really care about hitting 30. Obviously I want to do it, but it’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh, if I don’t do it …’ No, if I don’t do it this year, I’ll do it next year. Rafi is going to do it for sure, and Chappy, if they stay healthy.
“For me, it was all about winning. (Getting to 30) was not my main focus.”
Adames thought he would spend this weekend preparing for a postseason series hitting in front of Rafael Devers and Matt Chapman. Instead, the Giants are left to figure out how they can avoid another second half slide next season. Part of that will fall on Adames.
When he signed the biggest free agent contract in franchise history, Adames was given a leadership role. That’s what he wanted, and from the start, the keys were handed to him, Chapman and Logan Webb.
This has not been an easy stretch for any of them, and Adames said he already has given plenty of thought to what went wrong. He made reference Friday to his slow start to the season, but also to the lack of energy from the entire team at points of the second half.
“I feel like we kind of lost that. It’s tough,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to, when the second half hits, just continue the same mentality that we had in the first half. I feel like we lost it after the All-Star Game and we need to be better next year.”
Like Webb did on Tuesday, Adames mentioned how much talent is already on the roster and how much he trusts president of baseball operations Buster Posey to make the necessary adjustments. Posey is expected to be active, but still, there’s only so much he can do. He already committed huge portions of the future payroll by signing Adames and trading for Devers.
A lot of this has to come from within, and Adames knows that. He said he already has started to think about what needs to change.
“It’s something that we need to address,” he said. “The core of the guys that are here, we need to maybe have some dinners throughout the offseason and figure out a way that we can keep the clubhouse together and (have) the same energy throughout the year. We need to figure out something to keep that energy that we had in the first half this year. Whatever it takes for next year, we’ve got to do it.”
The offseason work might be relatively simple. Most of the team’s leaders have homes in the Phoenix area, and the majority of the young players plan to either move there or arrive in January for early workouts.
There will be time to build cohesion before pitchers and catchers report, and to figure out how to be better on and off the field in 2026. Until then, all the Giants can do is try to win out and leave with some positive vibes.
Adames figures to get about nine or 10 more chances this weekend to hit No. 30, and while it’s not front of mind, it certainly would be a nice end-of-season reward for a fan base that has shown up this year. On Friday, with the historically-bad Colorado Rockies in town, the Giants sold out Oracle Park. The crowd was lively throughout a 6-3 win, and in Adames final four plate appearances there was plenty of anticipation.
Adames thanked those fans in his speech and again after the win. He also thanked his teammates, who rewarded him for keeping his energy and smile throughout an up-and-down season that he found personally disappointing.
"I'm proud to wear this uniform."
Willy Adames expresses his gratitude for Giants fans after winning the 2025 Willie Mac Award 🥹 pic.twitter.com/WlmwmuczeO
There were plenty of days in the first half when Adames looked up and saw a batting average that started with a one, but whenever a teammate homered, he was the first one there to remove the helmet. After every big win, he was there with a splash of water or Powerade. Even in a lost year, that wasn’t overlooked in the clubhouse.
“Obviously getting that award is the biggest award you can win as a Giant,” Adames said. “It’s an honor. It’s truly special for me.”
For the first time in four years, the Boston Red Sox will play postseason baseball.
The Red Sox punched their ticket in dramatic fashion Friday night when Ceddanne Rafaela launched a triple to dead center field in the ninth inning off Detroit Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle. Romy Gonzalez scored from first base to give Boston a walk-off 4-3 victory, which secured its spot in the playoffs.
Friday’s dramatic win helped end a three-year playoff drought for the franchise, which last made the postseason in 2021. That run included a win in the AL Wild Card Game over the Yankees and a 3-1 series win over the Rays in the American League Division Series. The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-1 series lead over the Astros in the American League Championship Series but lost three straight games to lose the series in six games. The Astros outscored the Red Sox 23-3 over those final three games.
The Red Sox will look considerably different this postseason, as Garrett Whitlock is the only member of the active roster who played in that ALCS against Houston. (Tanner Houck, who made five appearances that postseason, remains on the Boston roster but went on the IL in May.) The 2021 season was manager Alex Cora’s first season back with the Red Sox after he served his season-long suspension from MLB in 2020.
Though the ultimate story of the 2025 Red Sox will depend on what happens in the playoffs, making the playoffs at all was widely considered an impossibility as late as June, when the Red Sox traded superstar third baseman Rafael Devers and flip-flopped around the .500 mark for the entire month.
They entered June in fourth place, 8.5 games out of first place in the AL East and 3.5 games out of a wild-card spot, and they finished the month in almost the same spot: seven games back in the East, three games out of the wild card.
Yet a season-long 10-game winning streak before the All-Star break put the team above .500 for good. And though they emerged from that break to go 2-5, they’d win their next four series to firmly establish their place in the postseason picture.
That footing was once again questioned in early September, when rookie sensation Roman Anthony suffered an oblique strain that ended his regular season and could keep him out of the entire postseason. A 5-8 stretch followed the Anthony injury but the Red Sox, at risk of falling out of the playoff picture, won consecutive road series in Tampa and Toronto to reestablish their spot, then punched their postseason ticket with their MLB-leading 10th walk-off win on Friday night.
The Red Sox became the fourth team in the American League (and third in the AL East) to clinch a playoff spot, joining the Blue Jays, Mariners and Yankees. Their opponent is yet to be determined, but they’re almost certain to begin their postseason journey on the road for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
They could be heading to New York, Detroit, Toronto or Cleveland, depending on how the weekend’s games play out across the league.
The Mets have made one decision regarding their starters this weekend.
Manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed before Friday's series opener against the Marlins that Clay Holmes will take the mound Saturday. The news comes just a few days after Holmes pitched an inning out of the bullpen in Chicago.
When asked what their plans for Sean Manaea are, and whether he can pitch out of the bullpen or even start Sunday's regular season finale, the Mets skipper was non-committal and is only thinking about Friday's game.
"We’ll see, we got to get through today and we’ll go from there," he said. "The only thing we know is Clay will start and we’ll go from there."
Manaea piggybacking off of Holmes' start on Saturday is on the table. It worked against the Padres in mid-September but was less effective against the Nationals when the Mets swapped their order last week. Both pitchers came out of the bullpen on Wednesday against the Cubs and had mixed results but Mendoza pointed to how they "bounced back" from that outing as the reason for Holmes starting over Manaea.
The questions for Mendoza were directed toward Sunday's game. Again, the team has yet to name a starter and the options are plentiful, but Mendoza remains focused on Friday's game.
"We’re not thinking about Sunday. We got to take care of business today and then take care of business tomorrow and see where we’re at," he said. "We’re not planning ahead. This is literally one day at a time here. We know Clay is going to start tomorrow and then we’ll see who‘s available. We got to get through today’s game and how many bullpen arms are going to be available after today’s game. There’s a lot of moving pieces here."
David Peterson, who would be pitching on normal rest if he got the ball for the regular season finale, is an option to start, but Mendoza didn't rule out Peterson coming out of the bullpen.
"We’ll get through today and see if we need him out of the bullpen tomorrow, or we’ll need him to start the next day. It’s literally one day at a time," he said."
Kodai Senga update
Senga's status for the rest of the regular season/postseason is still unknown. Mendoza confirmed the right-hander is still in Port St. Lucie and threw another bullpen. When asked if the team is considering shutting down Senga, Mendoza said, "We haven’t got there yet."
Earlier this week, Senga threw a live BP that produced some concerning results. Senga's velocity was noticeably down, but the weather was affecting him, so the team is unsure what to do with their third-year pitcher.
SAN FRANCISCO — As a team, there’s not much for the Giants to play for this weekend. Sure, they’d like to finish strong, and a .500 record is certainly better than finishing with a losing season, but they were eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday and can’t even play spoiler.
But there’s a lot on the line individually during the final series of the year, both in terms of milestones and impressing the front office. In that respect, it was a good night for quite a few Giants.
Willy Adames got closer to breaking the 30-homer curse, Heliot Ramos hit a loud three-run shot, and Trevor McDonald continued his September surge as the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3. They’ll send Justin Verlander and Logan Webb to the mound the next two days in hopes of sweeping the Rockies and finishing the year at 81-81.
Here are some of the boxes that were checked in Game 160:
One He Won’t Forget
This was always going to be a memorable night for Adames, who was honored before the game after winning the Willie Mac Award. In that speech, Adames noted that it was a special honor because it was voted on by teammates, and he later caught ceremonial first pitches from his parents.
A few minutes later, Adames blasted a two-run shot to left, ending a run of 14 games without a homer. The shortstop is now at 29 and has roughly nine or 10 at-bats against a bad pitching staff to try and become the first Giant since 2004 to hit 30 homers.
The 29th of his first year in San Francisco left the bat at 110.2 mph, making it his hardest-hit ball of the year. Adames flew out, got hit by a pitch, struck out and walked in his next four plate appearances.
Milestone Night
With a single in the bottom of the fifth, Matt Chapman reached 1,000 hits in the big leagues. He had 509 in Oakland, 245 in Toronto, and now 246 in San Francisco. Chapman also made one of his better plays of the year …
A five-time Gold Glove Award winner, Chapman might have a hard time defending his NL crown, in part because he missed 32 games with hand injuries. He is third among NL third basemen in Outs Above Average, but at four OAA, he is well behind Ke’Bryan Hayes, who has 21 and was the 2023 NL Gold Glove Award winner at third. The SABR Defensive Index, which accounts for roughly 25 percent of voting, also ranked Chapman well behind Hayes in the most recent public update.
Remember The Name
McDonald has been on the 40-man roster all year, but he didn’t get called up until last week. There might not be anyone in orange and black who has done more recently to improve their standing heading into next spring.
Five days after he opened eyes with a strong start at Dodger Stadium, McDonald struck out 10 and walked none over seven innings. The lone blemish came in the fifth, when he gave up a couple of singles and then hung a curveball that Ezequiel Tovar lined over the center field wall. McDonald got 18 swinging strikes, which is tied for the eighth-most by a Giants starter this season.
The Giants are likely to seek multiple rotation additions in free agency, but McDonald has certainly passed a few other young starters on the organization’s overall depth chart. At the very least, he should get a chance to follow the 2024 Landen Roupp path and win a bullpen job.
Since his return from the injured list in mid-August, manager Rob Thomson has been unwavering in his confidence when it came to starting pitcher Aaron Nola. Through a trio of six earned run outings, bad innings and general mediocrity during those seven starts, Thomson didn’t flinch.
Nola proved him a knowledgeable man Friday night as he retired the first 17 batters he faced and carried the Phillies to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins at Citizens Bank Park on a beautiful early fall evening. In the last three games, Phillies starting pitchers combined to go 24 2/3 innings without giving up a run.
Whether Nola was auditioning for a starting spot in the playoffs, a long relief role out of the bullpen or anything else, he aced his outing with a terrific mix of pitches and precision command as he finished his eight innings by allowing just two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts on just 90 pitches. The lone blemish was a solo home run by Christian Vazquez in the sixth.
“It feels good to get back out there in the eighth again. It’s been a while,” said Nola. “Since I got off the injured list I don’t think I’ve even been in the seventh. It’s good to go deep tonight and save that bullpen out there a little bit and Duran come in and close that game out. Good game all around by all the guys.
“I know that one inning has been biting me a lot this year. It’s good to kind of roll through the first half of the game with no runs, it kind of makes things easier. Those early outs definitely helped a lot. Ground ball outs. The leadoff guy almost every time was big.”
Pressed before the game whether Nola was part of his starting pitching rotation when the postseason begins on October 4, Thomson would commit to nothing, saying that he wanted Nola to go out and pitch well.
Mission accomplished. In doing so, Nola passed Phillies legend Robin Roberts for second on the all-time Phillies strikeout list with 1,876, trailing only Steve Carlton’s 3,031.
“He was great,” said Thomson. “His fastball command. Touched 94. He was 93 in the eighth, so he held his velocity. Landed the curveball, his changeup was good. He was fantastic. That’s who he is. With a guy like Nols, you know how hard he works, how hard he prepares. The competitor that he is. You know it’s there. I don’t worry about him at all. I really don’t. I think it’s great for him. He’s dealt with some injuries, obviously, and come back from them, building back up. So that’s a good way to end the year.”
The Phillies gave Nola the lead in the first on a rare Kyle Schwarber infield single, a single by Bryce Harper and a sacrifice fly by Alec Bohm. Red hot Edmundo Sosa hit a solo home run to left in the fifth and Philadelphia tacked another on in the sixth when Bohm scored on a Brandon Marsh double down the rightfield line.
But the story of the night was Nola. While perfect through 5 2/3, his most impressive inning may have come in the seventh. Former Phillie Kody Clemens tripled to the wall in center to lead off the inning. Nola then got Ryan Jeffers to strike out swinging on four pitches, Trevor Larnach to strike out looking on three pitches and Brooks Lee to fly weakly to left on his second pitch.
“That was huge. That was a big spot in the game,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “In the playoffs there’s obviously going to be moments like that. So, to see him come through, strike out two hitters in a row, get the third popup, that’s a huge moment in the game and a big moment for him.”
The whole game was a big moment as Nola convinced just about everyone, except his manager, who needed no convincing, that he’s still capable of gems like this.
“I feel like the more I throw, the more I pitch, the more I keep feeling healthy,” said Nola. “The fastball command usually creeps up a little bit. I feel like over the years once I start the season it takes a little bit to get rolling. Once I came off the IL it was kind of the same thing, took a second to get rolling.”
He was rolling so well that when Thomson asked if he wanted to go out for the eighth, there was little hesitation from his starting pitcher. And all that happened in that final inning for him was three more outs on just 10 pitches and another boost in confidence for most.
“Everything was working,” said Realmuto. “That was the sharpest I’ve seen him this season. Curveball had good bite to it, the changeup was as good as I’ve seen and then he was locating the fastball. Just had everything going for him.
“It was great to see. You know Nola, he’s a competitor. This season, obviously, wasn’t the one he wanted but to see him go out on top and throw a really good start and take some momentum into the postseason, it’s really good to see. Nola’s who he is for a reason. He’s been really good for us for a long time, especially coming off a start like that, the confidence is definitely high with him.”
And now he finds himself second on a list with only one of the greatest pitchers of all time ahead of him.
“It’s humbling, for sure, to be on a list with those guys that played here,” he said. “Lot of really great pitchers that have pitched in a Phillies uniform. To be up there with those names is pretty humbling.”
CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 30th homer Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, making the speedy Chicago Cubs center fielder the first player in franchise history to go deep 30 times in a season along with stealing 30 bases and hitting 30 doubles.
The 23-year-old Crow-Armstrong also joined Sammy Sosa as the second Cub to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases. Sosa did it in 1993 and 1995.
The left-handed hitting All-Star smacked a high curve from Miles Mikolas 396 feet into the right-center bleachers for a two-run shot that gave Chicago a 3-0 lead with two outs in the fourth. The drive was Crow-Amstrong’s second homer in his last 29 games.
Crow-Armstrong is batting .245 in his third major league season. He has 35 stolen bases and 37 doubles.
NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani topped Major League Baseball’s jersey sales for the third straight year heading into the end of the regular season as Paul Skenes and Cal Raleigh entered the top 20.
MLB’s top seven remained unchanged from its listing at the All-Star break. Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star, was followed by New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and shortstop Mookie Betts, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Juan Soto, and San Francisco third baseman Rafael Devers.
Ohtani is just the fourth player to lead in three consecutive years after Derek Jeter (2010-12), Judge (2017-19) and Betts (2020-22). MLB started keeping track of sales in 2010.
Skenes, set to win the NL ERA title in his second season with Pittsburgh, was 18th. Raleigh, a Seattle catcher who entered Friday leading the major leagues with 60 home runs, was 20th. Both failed to make the top 20 list at the All-Star break.
Also finishing among the top 20 for the first time were Boston outfielder Jarren Duran at 13th and Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong at 16th.
Philadelphia first baseman Bryce Harper moved up two slots to eighth, dropping Houston second baseman Jose Altuve and San Diego outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. each down one.
Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was 11th, followed by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who plans to retire after the postseason and finished among the top 20 for the 12th time.
Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz was 14th, Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 15th, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso 17th and San Diego third baseman Manny Machado 19th.
MLB’s list tracked sales on Fanatics’ sites, including MLBShop.com, since opening day.
