1. Minus Jake (The Rake) Trouba, Chris (Stop Crying He's Gone) Kreider and D'Andre (Not Captain) Miller around, the Rangers room is as peaceful as a churchyard. Also boring!
2. I can't wait for Captain J.T. (The Golfer) Miller's first address to the troops. Prediction: Something like "If you guys don't hustle, I'll kick your butt!"
3. Okay, fair enough; but who's gonna kick the captain's toosh when he doesn't backcheck? (Will Sully have the nerve to do that? Doubt it.)
4. Speaking of butt kicking, isn't that what Connor McDavid is doing to the fair village of Edmonton by not getting it over with and putting pen down on an Oilers contract? (Sure is.)
5. Writing in The Hockey News Yearbook about the Rangers, Steve Zipay asks, "Can Mike Sullivan galvanize the defense and core forwards and develop some youngsters with a new voice and style?" (Answers below.)
6. A. To galvanize the defense, get Cale Makar; trade Slava Gavrkov; B. To galvanize the core forwards, get Auston Matthews and William Nylander; trade Breadman and meek Mika; C. To develop youngsters with a new voice and style, promote and keep Gabe Perreault, Brett Berard and Scott Morrow. (Make sure you let them talk to the media daily.)
7. Sportsnet's Emily Sadler produced a list of "Players Under The Most Pressure." Vegas' Mitch Marner tops the list and his ex-Leafs buddy Auston Matthews is runner-up. No Rangers made the list.
8. Maven's List of Rangers Under Most Pressure; A. Fats Lafreniere; earn the dough or get traded; B. Breadman Panarin; reach the 100-point mark or get traded: C. Igor Shesterkin; either carry the team or get booed; D. Mika Zibanejad; Either reach a 70-point season or live in the press box; E. Slava Gabrikov: Either carry Adam Fox or Will Borgen will.
9. If rookie Matthew Schaefer makes the Islanders varsity and plays better than Gavrikov: OY VAY!
10. If nothing else, the Rangers – thanks to MSG Networks – will be blessed by the twin voices of Kenny Albert and Dave Maloney on the Blueshirts' telecasts.
In what will be his last start of the regular season on Wednesday, Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo will have completed a year that few expected. He will most likely be one of the three starting pitchers for manager Rob Thomson when the team begins their playoff run. The Phillies’ magic number to clinch the second seed is just one going into the middle frame of their series against the Marlins.
After coming over from the Marlins, Luzardo has gone through the normal ups and downs when joining a new team, but has impressed his manager with how he’s handled it.
“He’s had a really, really good year,” said Thomson of Luzardo, who will make his 32nd start of the season with a 14-7 record and a 4.08 ERA. “Didn’t quite expect this. He’s going to surpass his innings for a year, he’s going to surpass strikeouts for a year. Career-highs in both. He’s done a great job. Great pick up.
“A guy comes here for the first time there’s expectations, obviously. This isn’t the normal place to play because there’s a lot of expectations, there’s a lot of noise. So, when a guy comes in and starts off good and then goes into a little bit of a slump, whether it’s on the mound or at the plate, it’s good to see a guy come out of that and get to the other side. That was really something that has impressed me, that he has been able to do. To put the bad starts behind him and get going again. It shows how strong of a person he is.”
In his starts this season, Luzardo has compiled 176 2/3 innings pitched and 206 strikeouts, both just two off his career high. He has also yielded just 16 home runs. And while the ERA may not be eye-popping good, there are extenuating circumstances, such as a mini mid-season slump.
“I think it’s just, at the time, not executing pitches,” Thomson said. “There was one game in particular where I had to push him a little bit further because I didn’t have much bullpen. So, there are add-on runs that probably wouldn’t be there if we had a full bullpen.”
While Thomson wouldn’t commit to Luzardo being among his top three starters for the playoffs, it’d be surprising if he isn’t.
Health updates
The worst fears of an injury to J.T. Realmuto were erased Tuesday when X-Rays were negative on his right hand after taking a foul tip off it in the ninth inning. He was held out of the lineup by Thomson on Wednesday, however.
“J.T. is better today,” said Thomson. “There’s more mobility in his finger. It’s bruised. There’s still some swelling in there, some pain. But not as bad as yesterday.” Thomson said he’d like to see his catcher behind the plate before the regular season ends, if he’s able.
Bryce Harper missed his second straight game as he’s dealing with an illness. “Bryce is feeling better but still feeling the effects of the sickness. He hasn’t been in yet. I’m not sure if he’s coming in at all.”
As for shortstop Trea Turner, he continues to climb the ladder in his rehabilitation to get his hamstring to 100 percent as he continued his workouts at Citizens Bank Park.
“He got six at-bats, was fine then he ran in the outfield,” Thomson said. “Looked good.”
Asked if he’s running at 100 percent, Thomson jokingly put it in the 75 or 77 percent range. “I hope, I hope,” he said of Turner playing before the regular season ends on Sunday. “Just continue tomorrow get more at-bats for him, ramping up his speed. More ground balls. He’s done everything. It’s just a matter of getting that speed up to 100 percent.”
The manager stated that it’s not necessary for Turner to play before the regular season ends but he’d like to see it. “We’re not going to push him if he’s not 100 percent.”
Bullpen worries?
After Cristopher Sanchez threw seven shutout innings at the Marlins, the bullpen struggled by giving up seven hits and six runs (three earned) in four innings of work. David Robertson allowed three hits and an earned run in 2/3 of an inning, Jhoan Duran blew a ninth-inning save and Orion Kerkering was touched for a hit and an earned run in the 10th.
“Yesterday I think Robbie (Robertson) was just rusty. He had six days off,” said Thomson. “Kerk, I think it’s executing his slider. He’s just not getting a lot of swing and miss. He’s got to do a better job at that, and I know he will.”
Sosa returns
The Phillies brought infielder Edmundo Sosa off the injury list Wednesday and Thomson threw him right in the lineup at shortstop and hitting sixth. Infielder Donovan Walton was designated for assignment to make room for Sosa.
Sosa had been on the 10-day injured list with a sore groin that Thomson labeled as very minor.
Cleveland Guardians designated hitter David Fry takes a fastball to the face Tuesday during a sixth-inning bunt attempt. (Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)
Cleveland Guardians designated hitter David Fry was hit in the face by a 99-mph fastball thrown Tuesday by Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal at Ohio's Progressive Field.
During a sixth-inning at-bat, Fry was attempting to bunt when the ball missed the bat completely and hit him in the nose and mouth area. He fell to the ground and remained there for several minutes while being treated by medical staff.
Fry eventually was able to walk to a cart under his own power. The 2024 American League All-Star gave a thumbs-up signal as he was being driven off the field. The Guardians later said Fry was undergoing tests and observation, possibly overnight, at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.
David Fry exited the game after being hit in the face by a pitch.
“He’s getting tested," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told reporters after the game. "He stayed conscious the whole time. Definitely some injuries there, so I’ll give you an update tomorrow on David.”
Vogt added: "We're all thinking about Dave and his family right now. Obviously, we're glad he's OK, but obviously it's really a scary moment. So [we're] thinking about him."
As the incident took place, Skubal reacted in horror from the mound, immediately dropping his glove, removing his cap and covering his face with his hand. The 2024 American League Cy Young Award winner later told reporters it was "really tough" to see Fry like that.
“I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right," Skubal said. "Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.
“I know sometimes with those things that can change. So hopefully he’s all right. I look forward to hopefully at some point tonight or [Wednesday] morning getting a text from him and making sure he’s all good because there’s things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game.”
Cleveland won the game 5-2 to pull to a tie with Detroit at the top of the AL Central Division after trailing by as many as 15½ games this summer.
As we enter the final week of the 2025 MLB regular season, the league has made a significant announcement, stating that it will implement an Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System for the entirety of the 2026 season.
BREAKING: Major League Baseball will use the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS) during the entire 2026 season
ABS CHALLENGE RULES:
- Each team will get two challenges and can keep them if they're successful
The ABS challenge system is not "robot umps," as many had feared would come to baseball. Instead of being an automated system that calls every ball and strike, the ABS Challenge System allows teams to request a review of important ball-strike calls during a game. It's a balance between a fully technological system and the current system that includes natural human error from the very human umpires.
If you've watched a tennis match, then you already know how this ABS system will work. After a given pitch is delivered during a game, a batter, catcher, or pitcher will have a narrow window of time to challenge the call the umpire made. Once a challenge has been made, the umpire will inform the stadium that the pitch is being challenged, and everyone, including the players and umpires, will watch the Jumbotron that every stadium has in the outfield. The screen will show an animation that depicts the path of the pitch, and then, when the pitch crosses the plate, it will pause and highlight the location of the pitch as it crossed the plate to see if any part of the ball knicked the strike zone in the slightest bit. If the animation shows that the pitch was a strike, the pitch must be called a strike, regardless of what the umpire had called before, and vice versa.
How will the ABS system work in baseball?
MLB stadiums are equipped with Hawk-Eye technology that already monitors the exact spin, movement, and location of each pitch, relative to the batter’s zone. That's how we get all of our advanced pitch mix data over the last few seasons. Players will now be able to use that technology to request a challenge of a ball or strike call if they think the umpire got it wrong.
Unlike in the NFL, where a coach has to throw a challenge flag, in MLB games, managers will not be able to challenge. Challenges are only allowed to be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or batter, and they will do so by tapping their hat or helmet to let the umpire know.
This system is designed to prevent any help from the dugout or other players on the field, which will limit any player from getting outside feedback from a team's own technology to tell him that he should challenge. The challenge must also come immediately after the ball or strike has been called, so players will get no time to deliberate and wait for a teammate or coach to yell something to them.
This ABS system will work by creating a unique strike zone for each batter. This was something that Guardians catcher Austin Hedges was worried about when I spoke to him during spring training. Austin Hedges told me that his biggest fear with an ABS system was that the league needs "to figure out what that strike zone means. I worry about having a different strike zone for every hitter, and now the umpire has to know what that strike zone is for each measured zone."
As outlined by The Athletic, the zone will also be created using technology: "The ABS zone for each player is based on measurements taken by one independent party and verified by another; the top of the zone is defined as 53.5 percent of a player’s height, and the bottom of the zone is 27 percent of their height. The zone is 17 inches wide — the width of home plate — and pitch location is measured at the midpoint between the front and back of the plate. Any part of the ball only needs to tick the edge of the zone to be a strike."
Of course, the issue here is that umpires will need to be able to quickly adjust the strike zone to that specificity for every single hitter during a game or risk getting calls wrong.
Another wrinkle in how this will work is seeing how teams devise a strategy for deciding who can issue a challenge. Data has shown that catchers tend to be the most accurate in terms of determining balls and strikes, which seems obvious, but managers may prevent some issues with a poor understanding of the strike zone by issuing a challenge. Managers may also prevent their team from challenging pitches early in the count or early in the game because they don't want to risk being out of challenges in the crucial final innings. It will be an interesting and exciting new level of strategy for MLB managers.
How many ABS challenges per game in MLB?
Each team will get two challenges at the start of the game, and they will be able to keep the challenges if they're successful, so we could rephrase that to say that each team gets two incorrect challenges a game. Even if that seems like a recipe for infinite challenges, previous data has shown that to not be the case. According to Baseball America,"On average, there were 4.2 ABS challenges out of the roughly 290 pitches thrown per Triple-A game in 2025."
In each extra inning, a team will be given an additional challenge if it has none remaining entering the 10th inning. If they use the challenge, they will get a new one at the start of the 11th inning. If a team does have challenges remaining entering extra innings, they will not be given a new challenge, but they will be granted an additional one if they use their remaining challenge in the 10th inning.
Which baseball leagues are using automated systems?
MLB has been experimenting with many different forms of ABS systems in games since 2019. Back in 2019, the Atlantic League, which is an independent league run in conjunction with MLB, adopted a full ABS system, which is more casually referred to as "robot umps," where technology called every pitch in the umpire's ear. The Challenge System was then used for the first time in 2022 in the Florida State League. For the two seasons after that, 2023 and 2024, Triple-A teams tested both the Challenge System and the full ABS system. By the end of the 2024 season, it had become clear during feedback that the challenge system was more popular with players and fans, which is why it was tested in MLB spring training this season.
Will the ABS system impact the length of the game?
As Baseball America reported in the same article linked above, "the ABS challenge system hasn’t really affected game time in Triple-A." Much like in tennis, these challenges are quick, so this will not be similar to lengthy NFL and NBA replays that can often sap the momentum of the game. According to an MLB release, "In 288 games with the ABS Challenge System during Spring Training 2025, there were an average of 4.1 challenges per game, and those challenges took an average of 13.8 seconds." That means the Challenge System would add approximately one minute to each game.
How accurate is the ABS system in baseball?
According to the same MLB press release, during the 288-game experiment during spring training, calls were overturned 52.2% of the time. As we noted above, catchers had the best success rate at 56%, while hitters were successful 50% of the time, and pitchers were successful just 41% of the time.
It is important to note that there is a margin for error with the Hawkeye technology, as there is for all technology. As previously reported by The Athletic, the league has "acknowledged the margin for error’s presence," but had not, at that time, told players exactly how large the margin was.
How will ABS impact catchers?
One of the immediate reactions to the challenge system is that it will impact the value of catchers being strong framers. Hedges mentioned that he had some concerns about what the ABS system would do for defensive catchers like himself: "I don't know if it's gonna be enough to make [framing] not as important, but it's definitely gonna take a little bit away from receiving."
While it may impact receiving in a small way, because the catcher can fool an umpire with good framing and then have that call challenged, it's unlikely to have a major impact on framing. As Giants catcher Patrick Bailey said in an article with The Athletic, "I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing. You still have to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the day, I still think it’s going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
Bailey's point is a crucial one here. For a strike to even be challenged, the catcher has to get the strike first. He still has to present it successfully to the umpire. If he does get that strike call, it's not a given that the opposing team will challenge since they only get two missed challenges a game. Are you willing to risk that in the second inning on an 0-0 pitch? That may not seem like a significant pitch in the overall course of the game, but it's huge for a pitcher to be in a 0-1 count versus a 1-0 count. That could drastically reshape an entire inning, so the value of framing absolutely will still exist.
In the ABS challenge system, the vast majority of pitches are still going to be called by the umpires, so catchers being able to get those borderline called strikes called will still have tremendous value. A really good framing catcher could also make it hard on opposing teams to know when they should challenge or not, which adds an extra layer of strategy, while a poor framer may force himself or his pitcher to use more challenges to get ball calls reversed because the catcher framed a strike poorly.
For every player, it will make an understanding of the strike zone even more important.
“I don’t think it’s going to change the game as much as I originally thought it would,” Bailey said. “I think it’s just going to take away the really big misses.”
SEATTLE — The surging Seattle Mariners clinched a spot in the postseason, but they hope the real celebrations are yet to come.
Seattle earned the playoff berth with a dramatic 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies after getting some help from the New York Yankees, who beat the Chicago White Sox. Josh Naylor provided the big hit, a bases-clearing double with two outs in the eighth inning after Seattle had generated little offense against the major league-worst Rockies.
“We’ve still got work to do, obviously, but you never know when you’re going to get this opportunity again so we’re going to celebrate tonight,” catcher Cal Raleigh said.
The Mariners now have their eye on their first AL West title since 2001. Seattle moved four games ahead of the Houston Astros — who lost to the Athletics — and can wrap up the division as early as Wednesday.
“This is a special group. They’ve shown it all season long,” manager Dan Wilson said. “There is a lot of work to do, starting with the division. Hopefully we get that done sooner than later and we keep going. But there is a lot ahead of us, and I think this team is ready and primed for it.”
The Mariners also are in position for the second seed in the American League, and can secure that spot if they sweep the Rockies. That would give Seattle a first-round playoff bye.
This is the Mariners’ second playoff berth since 2001 and the sixth in franchise history. They ended a 21-year postseason drought in 2022, losing in the divisional round to the Astros. Seattle finished one game out of a wild-card spot in each of the past two seasons.
“We know the hunger the fan base has, and that motivates us to be out here and do the best that we can every single night,” center fielder Julio Rodríguez said. “We know the history, but we’re trying to write something different for this city and this town now.”
This year, the Mariners could be the hottest team entering the postseason. Led by slugging catcher Raleigh and his major league-leading 58 homers, Seattle has won 15 of 16 games and is coming off a sweep at Houston to take control of the division race.
“It’s taken a few years, but it makes this moment very nice. That’s the goal, right? Win the World Series and remember those moments you’ll never forget. That’s what we’re thinking, and we’re not done yet,” Raleigh said. “The last couple years have just been very painful at the end of the year. You come so close and you work so hard every year, and to come up short, it’s that much more satisfying when you do get the job done.”
CLEVELAND — For a frightening moment, the AL Central race hardly mattered.
Guardians designated hitter David Fry was expected to be hospitalized overnight after he was hit in the face by a pitch from Detroit’s Tarik Skubal in the sixth inning of Cleveland’s 5-2 win over the Tigers, a victory that deadlocked the division.
Fry squared around to try to bunt a 99 mph fastball from Skubal and the pitch struck him in the nose and mouth area. As Fry collapsed in the batter’s box and immediately grabbed his bloodied face, a visibly shaken Skubal threw off his glove and cap as Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt and trainers rushed onto the field.
Fry laid in the dirt for several minutes before being slowly helped to his feet. He gave a thumbs-up signal as he sat up and was driven off in a cart.
The Guardians said Fry was being transported from Lutheran Medical Center to the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus for further testing and observation. The team said it would update Fry’s condition Wednesday morning.
“It was straight to the face,” Vogt said, describing the impact on Fry that shook everyone inside Progressive Field. “We’re all thinking about David and his family right now. Obviously, we’re glad he is OK, but obviously it’s a really scary moment.”
Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, paced around the infield as Fry was being assisted. Following the game, Skubal, who allowed just two hits through the first five innings, said seeing Fry in distress was difficult.
“Really tough,” said the left-hander. “I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.
“I know sometimes with those things that can change. So hopefully he’s all right. I look forward to hopefully at some point tonight or (Wednesday) morning getting a text from him and making sure he’s all good because there’s things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game.”
That’s how Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan felt after watching Fry, an All-Star in 2024 who underwent offseason elbow surgery and didn’t join the team until late May, go down.
“Definitely really scary,” Kwan said. “For David to even try something like that (bunt), that’s just who he is. Selfless kind of guy, and especially in a position like that, he’s a tough guy. Thankfully he had some humor when he came up, but you don’t want to see a guy that’s been with you pretty much the whole year.
“Obviously energy-wise, just who he is as a teammate, he’s meant so much to us as a team. It’s really scary, but thankfully he had some humor coming off the field, so hopefully we get some good news.”
Following the incident, Skubal threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error — he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs — and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.
With its 16th win in 18 games, Cleveland caught Detroit atop the division after trailing the Tigers by 15 1/2 games on July 8. The Guardians were still 12 1/2 games back on Aug. 25, but have gone 17-5 in September.
The Tigers, meanwhile, have dropped seven straight and 10 of 11.
“I feel like we’ve been this way for a couple of series now,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “It’s not quite pressing but we definitely feel some of the pressure and we’ve got to mitigate it. We’ve got to eliminate it. We’ve still got to find ways to stay loose, focus in and hone in on what we need to do and go out there and do it.”
That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that if or when the Red Sox open up postseason play, they’ll almost certainly be without Roman Anthony.
The rookie star hasn’t played since straining his oblique on Sept. 2, an injury that carried an initial timetable of four to six weeks for recovery. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow issued an update on Anthony at the three-week mark, and he indicated that a return is not imminent.
Breslow provided some detail, noting that Anthony is “getting more comfortable” and appears to be in less discomfort than the days after first suffering the injury. Yet with the Wild Card Series scheduled to begin next Tuesday — the four-week mark of the injury — a return for Anthony does not appear to be on the table.
“This is an injury that we knew is going to take some time to heal and for him to get back on the field,” Breslow said, per Healey. “He and the medical staff are working as hard as they can to accelerate the timeline to the extent possible.”
The 21-year-old Anthony only played in 71 regular-season games for the Red Sox but has a case for being one of the most valuable players on the team this season. He batted .292 with an .859 OPS, hitting 18 doubles, a triple and eight home runs while driving in 32 runs. Only Rafael Devers — who posted a .905 OPS in his 73 games before being traded — posted a better OPS with Boston this season.
The Red Sox were 32-35 (.478 winning percentage) when Anthony was called up from Worcester in early June, and they went 46-27 (.630) with the rookie on the big league roster before his placement on the injured list. They’ve gone 14-9 (.560) since his injury.
After Anthony suffered the injury, manager Alex Cora said he told the outfielder to envision an at-bat in the American League Championship Series during his rehab work. Breslow’s recent update suggested that Red Sox fans should likely anticipate the same timeline — provided, of course, the team can first make the playoffs and then win two series to provide Anthony that opportunity.
Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...
Mets Notes
Pete Alonso is hitting .340/.385/.623 with eight home runs in 117 plate appearances over 26 games dating back to Aug. 26
In 10.2 innings over nine appearances this month, Edwin Diaz has allowed one run on five hits while walking three and striking out 17
Jonah Tong was stellar in his last start, allowing one run (unearned) on four hits while walking none and striking out eight
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How can I watch the game online?
To watch Mets games online via ESPN, you will need a subscription to a TV service provider or to ESPN+. This will allow fans to watch the Mets on their computer, tablet or mobile phone browser, or via the ESPN App.
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to secure the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
The Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets due to winning the season series. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 24...
Mets: 81-76, 1.0 game up on Reds and Diamondbacks for third Wild Card
Next up: @ Cubs, Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. (Jonah Tong vs. Matthew Boyd) Latest result: 9-7 win over Cubs on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA Odds to make playoffs: 66.8 percent
Reds: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Pirates, Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. (Paul Skenes vs. Hunter Greene) Latest result: 4-2 loss to Pirates on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL Odds to make playoffs: 21.3 percent
Diamondbacks: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Dodgers, Wednesday at 9:40 p.m. (Ryne Nelson vs. Blake Snell) Latest result: 5-4 win over Dodgers on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD Odds to make playoffs: 11.7 percent
The Cleveland Guardians' Austin Hedges, left, and Steven Kwan celebrate after scoring in the seventh inning of their win over the Detroit Tigers. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP
Gavin Williams posted a career-high-tying 12 strikeouts and Daniel Schneemann drove in two runs Tuesday as the host Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers to forge a tie atop the American League Central.
The AL Central race could be seen as an epic comeback by the Guardians or a huge meltdown from the Tigers, depending on your allegiances. The Tigers had led the division since 23 April and had a 10-game lead over Cleveland as recently as 6 September. But the Guardians have the best record in MLB this month (17-5) while the Tigers have lost seven straight games and 10 of their last 11.
Williams allowed two runs on four hits and walked only two to outduel Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits while fanning eight and walking three.
It was a shaky outing for Skubal, who has been excellent for most of the season. After he hit Cleveland’s David Fry in the face with a pitch, he looked shaken and threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error – he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs – and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.
“We did a lot of uncharacteristic things, and it’s hurting us,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said after the game.
Fry was taken to a local hospital for observation after being hit by the 99 mph pitch and Skubal admitted the incident had affected him.
“Really tough,” said the left-hander. “I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.”
With the victory, the Guardians now have a better head-to-head record against the Tigers this season and own the tiebreaker over Detroit should the teams finish joint-first in the division.
“I feel like we’ve been this way for a couple of series now,” Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler said. “It’s not quite pressing but we definitely feel some of the pressure and we’ve got to mitigate it. We’ve got to eliminate it. We’ve still got to find ways to stay loose, focus in and hone in on what we need to do and go out there and do it.”
The teams play each other again on Wednesday and Thursday before the Tigers complete their season with a series against the Red Sox and the Guardians face the Rangers.
SAN FRANCISCO — In the top of the second inning Tuesday night, Logan Webb threw a 2-2 slider to Victor Scott II that just missed the outer edge of the plate. As it hit Patrick Bailey’s glove, the Giants catcher subtly moved his hand a couple of inches. Scott bent down in disbelief and shook his head as home plate umpire Malachi Moore called him out.
Two innings later, Webb threw another slider up and away. This one found its spot, although not by much. According to the unofficial strike zone box on the broadcast, about half the ball was in the zone and half was out. Crooks briefly glanced back at Moore as he was called out.
A year from now, both of those pitches might lead to a brief stoppage of play.
The ABS (automatic balls and strikes) system was approved by Major League Baseball on Tuesday, and the man who framed both strikeouts early in Tuesday’s game might be the big leaguer who is most impacted. Bailey is the best pitch-framer in baseball and it’s not particularly close, but starting next opening day, opposing hitters will have a way to fight back.
Had Scott been able to challenge Tuesday, he would have gotten a 3-2 opportunity instead of a slow walk back to the dugout. Crooks would have been tempted, too, although he would have been proven wrong.
The ABS system will dramatically alter the game, and Bailey said Tuesday that he’s not quite sure what it will mean for his future. He is hitting .224 with six homers, but his defense is so elite that he has been worth 3.2 fWAR this season, which ranks third among Giants position players.
“I don’t think any of us know what this really looks like in a full year,” Bailey said Tuesday. “I’ll try to be the best I can be and just figure it out.”
It has been an open secret within the game that ABS would arrive in 2026, and on Tuesday, the Joint Competition Committee approved a challenge system similar to one that has been used at Triple-A since 2022 and was tried in 2025 spring training games. The final result is actually pretty simple.
Every stadium will have 12 Hawk-Eye cameras set up to track each pitch and if a pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a ball or strike, he can tap his hat or helmet. Teams get two challenges every game and will retain successful ones, with an extra challenge in every extra inning if a team is out by the 10th.
The rulings themself will resemble the system that has been used in tennis for years. After a challenge is announced by the home plate umpire, a graphic will be shown on the scoreboard displaying the exact location of the pitch compared to the batter’s measured strike zone and whether it is in fact a ball or strike. That part of the system figures are particularly popular.
Imagine it’s a Friday night at Oracle Park and 40,000 fans are on their feet in the eighth inning. Logan Webb throws a close pitch to Shohei Ohtani that is called a ball, but Bailey knows he saw it correctly and he taps his helmet. The anticipation at the ballpark will only be additive to the game experience. MLB estimates that challenges will take 15 seconds total, but in spring training it often was much quicker.
“Fans are going to love it,” predicted Bryce Eldridge, who experienced ABS in Triple-A this year.
Not every player will feel the same way. According to USA Today, seven teams opposed the ABS system in player voting, and it is sure to be embarrassing for some. Giants manager Bob Melvin has asked questions of Triple-A manager Dave Brundage and said he anticipates having to put in some rules at some point. There are bound to be some players who are challenge-happy and costing the team by being wrong too often.
“You’re going to find some guys that you’re going to tell them, ‘If you miss today, you’re not going to get (permission to challenge) tomorrow’ or something like that,” Melvin said. “And then you’re going to have other guys that are going to be really good at it. Next spring we’ll feel that out and see who is and who isn’t.”
What has been discovered in the minors is that pitchers are surprisingly bad at calling their own games. In spring training, they were correct just 41 percent of the time, per ESPN, while catchers sat at 56 percent and hitters were a 50-50 coin flip.
Bailey said it’s much easier for him to track while catching than hitting, and there’s nobody better at it. Per Baseball Savant, he has been worth 25 Catcher Framing Runs. The next closest catcher is Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk at 14 and the gap was just as wide last year, when Bailey led the Majors at 23 and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh ranked second at 13.
Bailey is so far ahead of the pack that he ranks second overall in Catcher Framing Runs since tracking began in 2018 — despite the fact that he didn’t debut until 2023.
“He’s the best, he’s as good as it gets, and he understands it, too,” Melvin said. “He knows all the numbers and what his pitchers can do and where he needs to go to get strikes. It makes a big impact.”
In theory, Bailey’s skills should still give the Giants a nightly edge. Melvin figures teams will save one challenge for the eighth or ninth inning, so they’ll have limited opportunities early in games to try and catch Bailey in a successful frame job. Bailey noted that there are plenty of times when he feels he caught a strike but the umpire disagrees, and he figures to be pretty good at challenging, given his feel for the strike zone.
There will also be some gamesmanship, although nobody is quite sure what that will fully look like yet. Bailey might find that there is a new edge to be found by goading hitters into challenging calls that were correct in the first place. Regardless, the Giants and Bailey will benefit from the fact that challenges are limited.
“I certainly don’t think a good framer goes away unless it’s wholesale (robot umps),” Melvin said. “I think, still, his value is going to be high.”
Bailey is hopeful that’s the case. He chose his words carefully Tuesday, but also left no doubt that he’s not thrilled that ABS has arrived. He has said in the past that it will be bad for catchers overall, and it certainly adds a bit more pressure to perform with the bat.
While some front offices have placed framing above all else in recent years, at least part of that advantage is going away. It will take some time to figure out just how much it impacts the Giants and their own catcher.
“I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing,” Bailey said. “You still have to be able to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the day, I think it’s just going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
Bill Russell, who played nearly 2,200 games and managed for parts of three seasons with the Dodgers, works as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The fourth in an occasional seriesof profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
An outstanding outfielder in his first three major league seasons, Russell moved to the infield full time in his fourth year. It was a disaster.
“It was something I lost a lot of sleep over,” said Russell, who led the majors with 34 errors that year. “After the season, I just collapsed for a few weeks.”
Then he picked himself up and went to work on getting better and in his second year as a shortstop he led the majors with 560 assists, led the National League in defensive WAR and made the first of three all-star teams.
He went on to play more games for the Dodgers than any player in Los Angeles history.
It was a remarkable career, one that hardly needed a second act. But even after he left the stage, Russell never left the theater. Six months after his last at-bat — he struck out as a pinch hitter in the final week of the 1986 season — Russell was back in uniform as the team’s bench coach.
He later managed in the Dodgers’ minor league system, replaced Tommy Lasorda in that job at the major league level and, for the past 13 years, has worked in the team’s community relations department, coaching youth camps and appearing at schools, fan fests and other events. Since 2002 he’s also served as an umpire observer, partly because the job gets him a good seat behind the plate at Dodger Stadium.
If the team were to a pick a Mr. L.A. Dodger, someone emblematic of the team’s history and values since moving to Southern California, the soft-spoken, humble Russell, a Dodger for nearly half a century, would have to be in that conversation.
But it was his dedication to mastering the switch from the outfield to shortstop — becoming the first prominent player since Honus Wagner to make the move — that literally changed the direction of the franchise. If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have had the courage to turn a minor league outfielder named Davey Lopes into a second baseman, where he became Russell’s double-play partner.
If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have tried pushing a scatter-armed third baseman named Steve Garvey across the diamond to first, opening up the position to Russell’s right for Ron Cey. The resulting infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey played together for 8 ½ seasons, longer than any quartet in baseball history, winning four pennants and a World Series.
“Each one of us had different talents,” Russell said. “It was tough at first but all of a sudden we started having success. It’s four brothers.”
From left, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey pose before an old-timers game at Dodger Stadium in 2013. The infield quartet won four pennants and a World Series together. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Now Betts, a six-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder, has mastered the move too, helping the Dodgers to the cusp of their 12th division title in 13 seasons. However if Betts perfected the shift, Russell pioneered it.
“He was a great athlete,” said Steve Sax, Russell’s double-play partner his last five seasons. “He was maybe the fastest guy in the organization. The whole genesis of being able to move guys around was the thought they’re so athletic, why can’t they make the transition?
“And he proved that to be true.”
At 76, Russell is nearly four decades removed from his last of his 2,181 big-league games, all with the Dodgers. But he’s still fit, not far off his playing weight of 175 pounds. And while he was once among the fastest players in the majors, he now moves at a purposeful saunter rather than a sprint. Wire-rim glasses crease his once-boyish face and the mop of straw-blond hair he once tucked under his cap has gone white, leaving him looking more like a college English professor than a once-iconic athlete.
"I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again," said Bill Russell, who turns 77 in October. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What hasn’t changed is his love for a game that has been his life and for a team that has become his family.
“I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again,” said Russell, who often wears a wry smile that suggests he’s in on a joke no one else knows about.
“Billy’s very special,” said Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner and president throughout much of Russell’s career.
“He was stable. Popular with the fans for sure. He deserves more credit that he’s received.”
Russell grew up a short drive from both the Missouri and Oklahoma state lines in the kind of nondescript Kansas town where everybody knew their neighbors and hard work wasn’t a virtue, it was an expectation.
The middle child in a family of five children, he attended a high school so small it didn’t have a baseball team. So he played basketball during the winter and baseball on sandlots and with American Legion teams during the summer. He was the kind of player scouts once described as “an athlete,” meaning he was smart enough and talented enough to excel at any position, though the Dodgers listed him as an outfielder when they selected him in the ninth round of the second amateur draft in 1966.
He gave most of his $14,000 signing bonus to his parents, minus the money he needed to buy a second-hand Chevy like the one his best friend drove.
Russell shot up the minor-league ladder, playing just 221 games before making the jump from Class A Bakersfield to the majors in 1969, doubling in his first big-league at-bat.
The adjustment from the minors to the majors was far easier than the change from the tiny mining town of Pittsburg, Kan., to the technicolor sprawl of Southern California.
“Coming to Los Angeles, you’ve got to be kidding me. A big city like this?” said Russell, who had rarely traveled more than 30 miles from Pittsburg before signing with the Dodgers. “My town was only 10,000 people so I had to grow up fast.
“I’m 20 years old, I’m in the major leagues and the minimum salary is $10,000. It wasn’t even $1,000 a month. But that was more money than I’d ever thought of. And I’m playing in Hollywood.”
After playing 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Bill Russell managed the ballclub from 1996-98. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Playing exclusively in the outfield, too, although Monty Basgall, a fellow Kansan and the former minor league infield instructor who scouted Russell as an athlete, was already plotting the move to shortstop, the most challenging defensive position after catcher.
“Shortstop is a difficult position,” said Derrel Thomas, a former teammate who played everywhere but pitcher during a 16-year big-league career. “A lot of people don’t give Monty Basgall any credit for what he did helping with the infielders.”
After some preparation in the instructional league and the minors, Russell made his major league debut at shortstop on the final day of the 1970 season, then played 47 games as a middle infielder a year later. But the move didn’t become permanent until Russell’s fourth season when he replaced an aging Maury Wills.
“I wasn’t in a position to say anything, really,” said Russell, who still speaks with a noticeable Midwestern accent.
“I had doubts about it, no question. But I figured my longevity in the big leagues, if I had [any], would come with moving to the infield.”
In fact, the move nearly ended his career. Russell made his first poor throw seven games into the season and by the all-star break he had as almost as many errors as extra-base hits. By then, he was also looking over his shoulder, expecting the Dodgers to put an end to the experiment.
“I’m surprised they didn’t,” he says now. “The fans got involved too. It wasn’t a standing ovation when I was coming back to the dugout after making some errors.
“At that time people brought transistor radios to the stadium. You could hear [Vin Scully] doing the game. I could hear him say something about me at shortstop. Talk radio was just coming on board and they were on me. It was a lot of negative stuff.”
“Maybe I was too dumb, I don’t know,” Russell said with a shrug. “I never thought about giving up or going back home. What am I going to do back home? I did say to myself, ‘I'm going to show these people I can play this position.’
“And I did. For 13 years.”
Through hard work and determination, Russell turned his fielding from a liability into an asset and the Dodgers began to win, reaching the World Series four times over the next nine seasons. And while Russell never won a Gold Glove — he twice led the majors in errors — he finished in the top five in fielding percentage by an NL shortstop three times, was in the top five for putouts four times and in the top three for assists six times.
He was understatedly brilliant, so much so that Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop Dave Concepcion once mocked Russell’s critics saying he didn’t know who the best fielder was “but I sure watch Bill Russell in the playoffs a lot.”
“He would never quit. Never,” O’Malley said. “Making that transition at the major league level, he deserves extraordinary credit for that.”
Almost lost in the focus on his defense was the fact Russell was a tough out, hitting better than .271 six times and excelling in clutch situations.
“That went all the way back to high school,” said Russell, who hit the shot that took his underdog team to the final of the Kansas state tournament. “It’s just a calmness. You can’t describe it. You can’t teach it. It is something that comes over you and you get a calm feeling that you’re going to succeed.”
As a high school infielder at Arroyo High in El Monte, James Baker was given his choice of uniform numbers. He didn’t have to think long before selecting one.
“I wore No. 18,” he said. “Because of Bill.”
It was the same number he had worn in Little League and American Legion ball.
“He was Mr. Clutch,” Baker, 61, said of Russell. “He was the dean of the infield.”
“The great thing about Bill Russell,” added Rick Zubiate, 57, Baker’s brother-in-law “is he wasn't flashy. He made all the plays he was supposed to. Not only that, he had a presence and he commanded everybody around him to be better and expect more of themselves.”
Russell may be little more than a face on an old baseball card to Generation Z. But for children of the ‘60s like Baker and Zubiate, he remains the archetypal Dodger, one with a Dodger Blue resume that is unassailable. Which is why Baker and Zubiate braved rush-hour traffic last week to drive to Ontario, where Russell was appearing at an event for the Dodgers’ newest minor league affiliate.
“I loved him,” Baker said after asking Russell for an autograph.
And what’s not to love? He played more games and has more World Series at-bats than any player in L.A. Dodger history. He trails only Willie Davis and Garvey in hits and only Clayton Kershaw has matched Russell’s 18 seasons at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, right, hugs Bill Russell in the dressing room after the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 6-5, in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS. (Associated Press)
But he also managed in the team’s minor league system, was the bench coach under Lasorda for seven years, then managed the big-league team for parts of three seasons, posting the fourth-best winning percentage by a manager since the franchise left Brooklyn. And he still pulls on his old uniform — with the bright red 18 over his Dodger blue heart — several times a year to join former teammates including Garvey, Sax and Steve Yeager in reminiscing with fans at fantasy camps and clinics.
“We have fun out there,” he said. “People come from all over the country. [It’s] like you’re still involved in the whole scene of being a major league player.”
If the speed and power of Willie Mays is synonymous with the San Francisco Giants and the style and grace of Ted Williams is emblematic of the Boston Red Sox, Russell’s blue-collar work ethic and country-boy humility is the embodiment of the Dodgers since they moved to Southern California.
“Quintessential Dodger?” O’Malley said. “Absolutely right. From start to end, he deserves the credit. He was respected and liked by everybody.”
Russell stood out, O’Malley said, partly because he blended in.
“He was quiet,” he said. “But keen sense of humor. If he wanted to make a point or be heard, he could nail it with a comment. It was pretty darn funny.”
Yet Russell’s silent excellence often went unappreciated. A .263 lifetime hitter who had fewer home runs in his career than Shohei Ohtani has this year alone, he received just three Hall of Fame votes the only time his name appeared on the ballot. For a time, even his loyalty to the Dodgers went unrequited; for years after his last game as manager Russell felt unwelcome at Dodger Stadium, the result of a toxic stew of bruised egos, Machiavellian maneuvering and corporate mismanagement.
It began midway through the 1996 season when Lasorda, the manager who had groomed Russell in the minors then won with him in the majors, had a heart attack. A month later Lasorda stepped down and Russell took over on an interim basis, guiding the Dodgers to a playoff berth.
That earned him the job full time but it didn’t earn him unquestioned support throughout the organization. The low-key Russell was a striking contrast to the colorful and bombastic Lasorda, more Mr. Rogers than Bobby Knight.
“He’s named the manager following Tommy. That’s not easy,” O’Malley said. “And he did it in his own way.
“But things didn’t work out. Following Tommy was not an easy task.”
Critics who had preferred hitting coach Reggie Smith, Mets manager Bobby Valentine or triple A manager Mike Scioscia — all former Lasorda pupils — over Russell quietly worked to undermine him and 74 games into his second full season as manager, Russell was fired by the team’s new overlords at Fox, who also sacked general manager Fred Claire, replacing him with Lasorda.
By then a major rift had developed between Russell and his former manager, who privately questioned Russell’s performance to management and publicly questioned his qualifications to manage. As a result many pointed fingers for the firings at Lasorda, who strongly denied being involved.
Bill Russell observed umpires on behalf of MLB during Sunday's Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Either way, the relationship was irrevocably broken.
Russell left with a .537 winning percentage over parts of three seasons, a better mark — albeit over a far shorter span — than the one that took Lasorda to the Hall of Fame. After firing Russell, the Dodgers never made the playoffs under Fox, with the seven-season postseason drought matching the team’s longest since the late 1960s-early 1970s.
The hard feelings have softened some with the passing of both time and Lasorda, who died in 2021. (Russell, pointedly, was not invited to the funeral; Scioscia, Valentine, Garvey and Cey were.)
“I knew him better than anybody. I was like his son,” Russell said earlier this month, sitting at a patio table near the neat two-bedroom Valencia house where he’s lived for 20 years.
“I don’t want to bad mouth him but he wanted to keep managing. He just couldn’t accept not being there. That’s just the way it was.”
The slight wounded Russell, who took off his Dodger uniform for what he thought would be the final time. O’Malley, who was in the room when Bob Graziano, the former banker Fox put in charge of the team, fired the manager, invited Russell back to the stadium later that season. But the place where he had grown from a boy to man wasn’t the same.
So he went on to work as an advisor with a team in Taiwan, spent a season as bench coach in Tampa Bay and managed in the minors for both the Rays and Giants.
None of it felt comfortable.
“I was in the Dodger organization 30 years,” he said. “To go somewhere else, it wasn’t right.”
After managing the Shreveport Swamp Dragons to a last-place finish in the Texas League in 2001, he returned to Southern California — and Dodger Stadium — as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball, a job that lets him sit behind the plate and watch games.
As if he could imagine doing anything else.
“He’s brought a different perspective because he played at the highest level and he managed,” said Matt McKendry, MLB’s vice-president of umpire operations. “But, you know, Bill loves being at the ballpark and if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing for us, I think he’d be at Dodger Stadium almost every night anyway.”
Because for Russell it’s never been a stadium. It’s home.
It’s been a steep learning curve for Mets owner Steve Cohen, just as it is for most successful businessmen who buy professional sports franchises.
Since purchasing the team from Fred Wilpon in late 2020, Cohen has tried to buy his way to a World Series title, spending $1.57 billion on players, as accounted for by Major League Baseball’s luxury-tax system. That’s on top of the $2.4 billion he paid for the franchise.
What does he have to show for it? Mostly a bunch of early postseason exits, and a team this year spending the final days of the season trying to make the playoffs after frittering away a big lead to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Even after a furious comeback to win 9-7 in Chicago last night, they’re11 games behind the NL East-winning Phillies and only a game up on the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final NL Wild Card spot. Both the Reds and Diamondbacks own the head-to-head tie breakers over the Mets.
Last season, the Mets lost in six games to the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. And they had to survive a three-way tiebreaker on the last day of the regular season to clinch an NL Wild Card spot to get that far.
That’s not a huge return on investment, particularly this season.
“This [year] has been a grind for this entire group,” David Stearns, the club’s president of baseball operations, said last week at a press conference in New York.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but the second half of this season has echoes of the Mets’ “worst team money could buy” squad of 1992. On June 12, the Mets had the best record in MLB at 45-24 with a 5.5 game lead over the Phillies. It has been all downhill ever since.
“When you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot, no question about it,” Stearns said, stating the obvious. “We’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all of that stuff [after it’s all over].”
To be sure, the Mets could recapture come of last year’s magic and still make the playoffs. But that was the antithesis of this season when they went 19-9 from Aug. 28, 2024, on to barely clinch a Wild Card spot. This year, they are 7-12 in September, losing eight in a row at one point and haven’t shown much of a pulse.
Put it all in the pot.
Cohen’s record of sustaining his managers and baseball ops leaders is a lot like firing hedge fund personnel who do not perform. No matter what it costs him, he could bring in a whole new crew.
He’s had four heads of baseball ops and three on-field managers in the five seasons he’s owned the team, which may indicate trouble for Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza. Billy Eppler lasted three seasons as general manager. The veteran Buck Showalter was fired after the Mets hosted and lost a three-game Wild Card Series to the San Diego Padres in 2022 and failed to make the playoffs in 2023.
Mendoza, who’s overseen a club playing 35-52 ball since its June apex, has to be on very thin ice. Stearns built a team that has hit the fifth-most homers in the league at 215 but has a 17th-ranked pitching staff with a 3.99 ERA. He, too, has to be accountable.
Milwaukee, which spent about $200 million less than the Mets second-ranked payroll of $340.6 million, has a pitching staff with the second-best ERA in baseball at 3.61. The Brewers have won 15 more games than the Mets and have the best record in MLB.
Cohen has certainly thrown money at it. Under his watch, the Mets’ payroll has ranked fourth, first, first, second and second. Last offseason he outbid the New York Yankees, signing Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract that will take him through 2040 when he’s 40 years old.
After a slow start adjusting to a new team, Soto has had another MVP-caliber season with 42 homers, 104 RBIs, a .931 OPS, a 163 OPS+ and a WAR of 6.3, the last number in the Shohei Ohtani range. He swiped his 36th bag on Tuesday night—an improbable feat for a not-so-fleet-footed player.
But when the Mets broke spring training at Port St. Lucie, Fla., this past March, their five projected starters—Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, Griffin Canning and Kodai Senga—were earning a combined $38.7 million this season. That’s $12.3 million less than the $51 million paid to Soto alone.
That worked fine into June until pitchers started to go down, but now only Holmes and Peterson are still healthy. The Mets are using young starters Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong to carry them down the stretch.
The Mets didn’t retool their rotation in the offseason after losing Luis Severino and Jose Quintana from last year’s team. They added free agent Holmes, the Yankees closer, and converted him to a starter. Sean Manaea opened the season on the injured list because of a right oblique strain sustained in camp and didn’t return until July 13. He failed to replicate last year’s 12-win season and has won only two games.
Even with that predicament, the Mets didn’t add any starting pitching at the July 31 trade deadline. They did add to the bullpen, acquiring relievers Ryan Helsely, Taylor Rogers and Gregory Soto. But that hasn’t staunched a meltdown of late and 27 blown saves. Helsley, the former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star closer, has been awful with an 8.47 ERA in 20 appearances. Should Stearns have been even more proactive?
“If I knew how our season was going to play out? Absolutely,” Stearns said.
Those are the decisions Stearns is paid to make. As Cohen continues to navigate his own learning curve, you can bet the owner is evaluating.
It looked as if Tuesday night's pivotal game against the Cubs was going to get away from the Mets after David Peterson's poor start, but the bullpen buckled down and allowed New York to complete the comeback win.
The Mets used six relievers, including Edwin Diaz for a six-out save, to lock down a 9-7 win that vaulted the team back into a playoff berth.
"Huge," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of his bullpen after the win. "Starting with [Huascar] Brazoban and to be able to get us through the fifth. Then you start matching up. [Ryne] Stanek was good, [Gregory] Soto was good. [Tyler] Rogers came in, walked a guy ended up scoring with a single, and then going up for a second up… and then [Brooks] Raley getting the lefty with two guys on and then Sugar with two innings there, shutting it down. Huge."
Peterson could only get four outs before Mendoza had to pull his starter. Although the southpaw only tossed 42 pitches, with a playoff spot on the line with just six games remaining, Mendoza was playing Tuesday like it was the last day of the season. He said so himself after the win, stating that he can't think about tomorrow's game and that he is only dealing with the current game. He managed like that, being aggressive with a rested bullpen and it paid off.
The bullpen allowed just one unearned run heading into the fifth when the Mets' offense came alive for five to tie the game at 6-6. Although the bullpen gave back the lead after the Mets scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, the relievers gave the team enough for Francisco Alvarez to hit his go-ahead homer in the eighth.
Once the Mets had the lead, Mendoza was sticking with his closer.
"Where we’re at now, we’re gonna to continue to push those guys," Mendoza said. "I just thought, tie ballgame, top of the order coming up for them, we had our guys coming up for the ninth, I needed to give our offense another chance to score runs. I’m glad Alvy hit that two-run homer there. I start with Diaz, once he was pitch efficient, I checked with him, he’s like “let’s go” and I gave it to him."
Diaz said they approached him before the game that he may pitch in the eighth inning if needed, and once he got through his first frame and Alvarez hit the home run, the Mets closer was ready to close it out.
"I was really fired up. After seeing that homer from Alvy, it was big," Diaz said after the game. "I came out, shut it down and then came on in the ninth to get the last three outs quick. It was pretty fun. It was great. It was a battle, back and forth… It was a really great game for both teams."
"At times, it’s been a struggle for those guys," Mendoza said of his bullpen. "But we believe in them."
Peterson was probably happiest with the bullpen's performance on Tuesday. After he couldn't get out of the second, the bullpen picked him up in a big way and the 30-year-old was grateful.
"Amazing team win – can’t say enough about the bullpen, they stepped up big and I don’t have enough words to show my appreciation for what they did," Peterson said. "They picked me up big time, the offense picked it up and kept us in the game… this is the team that we have and we’re gonna stick together and guys are gonna pick each other up and I’m extremely grateful and proud to be a part of this group."
Tuesday's win puts the Mets one game ahead of the Reds, who lost earlier in the evening, for the third NL wild card spot. With five games to go, the Mets will continue to lean on their bullpen as they try and navigate the end of the regular season with question marks in their rotation. But with Diaz always looming at the end of games, the Mets have a shot to end the season on a high note.
"We just gotta finish strong and see what happens on the last day of the season," Diaz said. "Just get outs. I think every guy in the bullpen knows what he has to do to get outs. Today we saw it, the bullpen did a really good job. From Brazoban to me, we did a really good job staying in the game and at the end we got the win. Tomorrow we got a game with the same mentality – when they give us the ball, just go out there and compete, get outs and try to win the game."
David Peterson on his outing tonight vs. the Cubs:
"Weird one but a tough one. Amazing team win. Can't say enough about the bullpen, they stepped up big. I don't have enough words to show my appreciation for what they did. They picked me up big time" pic.twitter.com/RzntuFjlju
