Category: MLB

Giants come to grips with another end-of-season firing after Bob Melvin ousted originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — The timing was odd, and looking back, it makes even less sense. 

At 1:05 p.m. on July 1, the Giants sent out a press release announcing that they had picked up the 2026 option on manager Bob Melvin. The lead quote in the release was from president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who said later that day he had spent months watching Melvin closely and weeks having internal discussions about whether to make the move. 

“We believe he’s the right person to continue guiding this team forward,” Posey said that day, even though the Giants had lost six of seven. 

Three months later, the Giants sent out another press release. Melvin had been fired, with Posey saying this time that a change of leadership was needed.

It is an unfortunate end for Melvin, a Bay Area native who viewed this as his dream job and ideally his final MLB job. But, more than anything, it’s a bad look for everyone involved.

At the end of the 2023 season, Gabe Kapler was fired. A year later, it was Farhan Zaidi, with Posey taking over. This time, it’s Melvin. There were plenty of reasons why each move was made, but still, this is a stunning stretch for an organization that wraps itself in “Forever Giant” talk and had incredible continuity while winning three titles. 

“It’s not ideal, right?” Posey said Monday. “It’s definitely not ideal. But unfortunately, we talked about it a lot, what the standards are for the Giants, and we have high standards and I hold myself to those same standards. I understand fully the position that I’m in now.”

The front office is not blameless, and Posey knows it. He hoped to boost morale by picking up Melvin’s option, but it became an expensive mistake. He made decisive moves in acquiring Rafael Devers and selling at the deadline, but the Giants also ran out of pitching, and looking back at the offseason, it’s clear they put too much faith in internal options at several positions. They certainly need to be more active with the roster this winter and build more depth. 

This is also a tough day for many in the clubhouse. Ultimately, they’re the ones taking the field, and for a second time in three years, they have watched a manager get fired. Melvin was popular to the end, and it was a somber scene on Sunday afternoon as some players realized he would take the fall for their inconsistency on the field. 

This all comes after more than a decade of stability under Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, but now, the Giants have a streak of three straight years in which they either fired their manager or president of baseball operations. 

Posey must know that there’s more work to be done behind the scenes. He has spent 12 months watching what goes on at every level of the organization, and he knows this wasn’t just about the manager. Something at Oracle Park just isn’t clicking. 

“Without a doubt, you hope there can be consistency in these leadership positions,” he said Monday. “We’ve got to get back to a place where we’re getting in the playoffs, we’re making runs in the playoffs. That’s what our fan base deserves. That’s what the city deserves. 

“When seasons don’t go the way you want them, it’s never one person’s fault. It’s never one group’s fault. But when they don’t go the way you want them, you can’t — in my opinion — sit there and say we’re going to come back and do the same thing that we did this year for the next year. Having said that, that’s part of why we landed where we landed.”

Zaidi hired Melvin in part because he was the opposite of Kapler, who had become unpopular by the end despite leading the Giants to 107 wins in 2021. Melvin is old school, and he brought along longtime coaches like Matt Williams and Ryan Christenson, who could not have been more different than the ones that were let go. 

The Giants made a show of cutting back their analytics department, ignoring the fact that the rest of the good teams in their division, the Los Angeles Dodgers in particular, continue to expand. Multiple players said this season that it is one area where the team is lacking. 

In retrospect, it’s clear there was a middle ground — and Stephen Vogt represented that. But the Giants played it safe, and they’re now paying for it. As they fell out of the race this year, Vogt — with a staff filled with former Kapler disciples — led a historic comeback in Cleveland. 

Vogt once backed up Posey, who now will lead the search for his own hand-picked manager. It is a decision that most lead executives only get to make once, and Posey must get it right. 

He is all-in with the core of this roster, and his choice must be strong enough to lead the Giants to the postseason in 2026. The next manager must also be someone who can grow with Posey and general manager Zack Minasian. The Giants don’t want to do this all again in two years. They have already done it far more often than expected. 

The tradition at Oracle Park last decade was holding postseason games in October. This decade, they have held press conferences to explain a firing, and no matter what one might feel about the individual decisions, there’s no denying that, taken all together, it’s a bad look.

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Here's what happened in Mets Land on Sunday, in case you missed it...

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• Needing a win to reach the playoffs as the Reds lost to the Brewers, the Mets were shut out by the Marlins, 4-0, in Miami on Sunday as their season came to a close
• SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reports on what's next
• Analyzing what went into the Mets' collapse
• Carlos Mendozaowned New York's "unacceptable" playoff miss
• As expected, Pete Alonso will be opting out of his contract
• Kodai Sengadiscussed the disappointing end to his season
• WATCH: A dejected Francisco Lindor talked about what went wrong for New York
• WATCH: Juan Soto and Edwin Diaz talked about the season coming to a close
• WATCH: Brandon Nimmo put the blame on the players, not the coaching

Giants fire manager Bob Melvin after two disappointing seasons with team originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Once known for their stability on the top step of the dugout, the Giants now will embark on a search for a new manager for the second time in 25 months. 

Manager Bob Melvin was let go on Monday morning, ending his run with his hometown organization after two mediocre seasons. The decision came about three months after president of baseball operations Buster Posey picked up Melvin’s option for the 2026 MLB season, a move that was popular in the clubhouse but did nothing to jolt a slumping team.

“After careful evaluation, we determined that making a change in leadership was in the best interest of the team,” Posey said in a statement. “The last couple of months have been both disappointing and frustrating for all of us, and we did not perform up to our standards. We now turn our focus to identifying a new leader to guide us forward.”

After Posey’s decision in July, the Giants went into yet another second-half collapse. They lost six straight ahead of the MLB trade deadline, pushing Posey to sell. At one point, the Giants lost 15 of 16 games at Oracle Park, a historically-bad run that cut into the attendance and enthusiasm gains they had seen in the first half. 

That stretch brought up new questions about Melvin’s job security, but the Giants briefly righted the ship in late August and early September, only to once again fall apart after moving into a tie for the final postseason spot. They were eliminated on Tuesday night and finished 81-81 after going 80-82 in Melvin’s first season.

For the 63-year-old, this could be the end of the road. A Palo Alto native who played for the Giants in the 1980s, Melvin viewed this as a dream job. He had hoped this would be his final big league stop, although that might change given the way it ended. Melvin previously managed in Seattle, Oakland, Arizona and San Diego.

The Giants brought Melvin up the coast after firing Gabe Kapler at the end of the 2023 season. In just about every way, Melvin stood as the opposite of Kapler, and his hire generally was met with solid reviews. 

In two years, he has had the backing of his players, particularly Matt Chapman, who played for Melvin in Oakland and has said he is a major reason why he signed a long-term deal with the Giants. Players who spoke about Melvin this past week said they hoped to see him back in 2026, noting he wasn’t the reason the season fell apart. Posey himself said the same three months ago. 

On July 1, after losing six of seven, Posey picked up Melvin’s option for next season. He said that day that he had spent months watching the manager and did not make the decision hastily. Posey said the team’s failures were on his shoulders, as well as a talented roster that was underperforming. 

“From my perspective, and also my perspective as a player, sometimes when you’re going through a rough patch there’s a tendency to want to point the finger at coaches, and ultimately I believe we have great players, and I still believe in that group of players, but it boils down to them needing to play better baseball,” Posey said back then. “If anybody deserves any blame from the top it should be on me, it shouldn’t be on the manager or coaching staff. I’m the one who sets the roster. I felt like, with all those things considered, this was a good time for me to show my belief in Bob and this coaching staff.”

Chapman and Logan Webb were among the players who said that day that they agreed with the decision, but the Giants continued their freefall. They were 11 games over .500 when Posey traded for Rafael Devers and five over when he said Melvin would be back in 2026, but ended up missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.

Heading into his second offseason in charge of baseball operations, Posey now will lead a managerial search, and he has to get it right. The Giants have a roster of highly-compensated players in their prime, and everyone involved is sick of finishing around .500. 

There are sure to be Bruce Bochy rumors, although that seems an unlikely path for many reasons, most notably the fact that Bochy currently is managing elsewhere and might be headed back to retirement. This is a chance for Posey to pick a long-term leader for the clubhouse and partner for the front office. It might be the most important decision he makes as president of baseball operations, but it’s also one he never imagined having to think about in October 2025. 

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The longer it went on, the more it felt like a telling statistic: The Mets went 0-70 in games in which they trailed after eight innings – the only team in the majors that didn’t pull off such a comeback win this season.

Especially considering the 'OMG' Mets of 2024 were largely defined by their late-inning comebacks, it’s hard not to see relevance in the 2025 Mets’ failure to have one of those steal-a-win type games that create chemistry and good vibes on a ballclub.

They had one last chance to do it, down 4-0 on Sunday in Miami against the Marlins. And by the time the Mets came to bat in the ninth inning, they knew the Cincinnati Reds had lost in Milwaukee, putting their postseason fate back in their hands one last time.

A winning rally at that point would have been the mother of all comebacks, sending the Mets to Los Angeles for a wild-card series with the Dodgers. Instead, despite getting their seventh walk of the game to start the ninth, they went quietly, with Francisco Lindorgrounding into a season-ending 4-6-3 double play.

It’s not a surprise they’re out, as poorly as they’ve played for months, and yet it’s still kind of hard to believe, considering the payroll and the level of talent.

To be sure, there are bigger reasons than intangibles as to why the Mets played 17 games under .500 starting June 13, a date so infamous by now that it practically rivals June 15, 1977, the day they traded Tom Seaver.

The biggest reason of all was front-and-center on this do-or-die day: Carlos Mendoza didn’t have a starting pitcher he felt he could trust. On a day when he used eight pitchers, David Peterson didn’t even see the mound, a reflection of his 9.28 ERA in September.

And Sean Manaea was used as more of an opener than a starter, getting pulled in the second inning after a couple of walks. That too was a reflection of how poorly he’s pitched for, really, his entire season, which was delayed until July by an oblique injury, and perhaps also the loose bodies in his elbow.

Finally, Kodai Sengacouldn’t even pitch his way back onto the roster after his ineffective starts that led to a minor-league demotion. In that sense, perhaps the turning point of the season was that day before June 13, when Pete Alonso’s high throw almost certainly caused Senga to pull his hamstring, at a time when he had a 1.47 ERA.

Senga, Manaea, and Peterson, after all, were supposed to be the No. 1-2-3 starters in the rotation this season, and their combined ineffectiveness largely doomed the Mets, especially with so much at stake late in the season.

But even that doesn’t explain why this team didn’t hit with runners in scoring position, save for the month of August, or why they played such dreadful baseball at times, especially in September, making both mental and physical mistakes that cost them games.

Throw in the lack of depth in the bullpen, which David Stearns, thought he addressed at the trade deadline, and those were the on-the-field issues that added up to all that losing baseball for more than three months.

And yet for all that, it’s still hard to ignore the intangibles that are more difficult to define but perhaps too often taken for granted.

Were J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias together the secret sauce to the 2024 season, Martinez providing veteran wisdom even when he stopped hitting down the stretch, and Iglesias driving the intensity higher on a daily basis with the way he grinded at the plate and hustled his way to more infield hits than you could count?

Martinez was done after last season, and certainly from a big-picture standpoint, it made sense to make room for young, home-grown players like Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio, in addition to Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, rather than bring back Iglesias.

But I thought it was a mistake at the time, not valuing what Iglesias did for the ballclub. And though he didn’t have nearly the season in San Diego that he did with the Mets, it’s still hard not to wonder if his presence would have added some of the intensity that seemed to be missing at times this season.

Put it this way, with Iglesias around, I have to believe they would have won at least one of those games in which they were trailing after eight innings. And if so, they’d likely be in the postseason.

That’s perhaps too simplistic, but it helps make a larger point.

That is, it seems relevant to note that Stearns, in some ways made a similar decision as Milwaukee Brewers’ GM, failing to anticipate the impact on his team’s clubhouse when he traded closer Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline, after which the Brewers fell out of contention.

A couple of years later, Stearns said he regretted that trade, implying reasons tangible and intangible, yet moving on from Iglesias felt a little bit like the Hader decision.

All in all, I don’t put as much blame on Stearns as I see fans doing on social media. Those pitching injuries/underperformance cut the legs out from these Mets, but that also leads to my biggest issue with the Prez of BB Ops: his refusal to bring up Nolan McLean at least a month earlier than he did, when he was instead using career minor leaguers to fill in for an injury-riddled starting rotation in July.

Even a handful of more starts from McLean might have assured the Mets of holding onto a wild-card spot.

That’s not necessarily about intangibles, but it is about having a feel for what the ballclub needs, and for not recognizing the obvious poise and competitiveness in McLean, in addition to his elite stuff, that made him major league-ready.

Stearns values analytics; we know that, but does he appreciate everything else that goes into building a winner?

It sure looked that way in 2024 when the Mets surprised everyone by going to the NLCS, but it’s a fair question now. Not only because this season goes down as an all-time failure, but because significant changes need to be made with this roster.

Only it’s not obvious how to make them. Alonso proved his worth and unless the Mets are signing Kyle Schwarber, which feels unlikely, Stearns needs to lock him up. However, between Alonso, Juan Soto, Lindor, and to some extent, Brandon Nimmo, whose contract would be difficult to trade, the Mets don’t have a lot of room for maneuvering.

The Mets now have a foundation of young pitching, as we’ve seen, and in top prospect Carson Benge they may have a difference-maker with the bat who can play center field, perhaps as early as sometime next season.

But Stearns can’t count on that. Nor can he fall back on his formula of signing undervalued pitchers, which worked in ’24 but not for the long run in ’25. He’s going to have to bring in at least one high-priced pitcher from a group that includes Michael King, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, and Framber Valdez.

And he’s going to have to improve the offense by trade or free agency as well. Of course, no amount of money can necessarily assure a team of having OMG magic, if you will, but finding a glue guy or two ought to assure that your team won’t go 0-70 when trailing after eight innings.

Which is what now seems fitting as an epitaph for the ’25 Mets.

Mets right-hander Kodai Senga's third MLB season is officially over with Sunday's 4-0 loss at the Miami Marlins, a result that kept New York out of the playoffs and ended any speculation over whether or not the 32-year-old would be on the team's postseason roster.

Senga was with the Mets in Miami but inactive while on a throwing program in Port St. Lucie, Fla., after being optioned to Triple-A Syracuse earlier this month.

His 2025 season ends with him going 7-6 and posting a 3.02 ERA in 22 starts for New York, plagued by the second half.

"I think it comes down to my body," Senga said through an interpreter. "I wasn't able to control my body the way I wanted to after that injury and, unfortunately, that showed up in the results on the field, too, and very disappointing that I wasn't able to contribute in that last month or so."

The Mets placed Senga on the 15-day injured list on June 13 with a right hamstring strain. He returned to New York on July 11 but was never the same, going 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA in his final nine starts through Aug. 31.

"I want to rebuild from Step 1," Senga said. "My body's changed after this injury and after various things. My body's changed, so not reflecting back on, 'My body used to do this or used to do that,' it's Step 1 again, head into the offseason, come back strong next year."

Senga elaborated on what he meant by his body changing.

"When you get injured and after you come back from injury, you're not the exact same as you were before -- that's just what that means," Senga said.

Injuries limited Senga to one start in 2024. He went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 2023, his first season with the Mets.

"For example, last year, where I kind of ended the season off an injury, still kind of had to do a similar thing," he said. "But if I can make the most of the time that I have in the offseason, I can come back strong."

Senga enters the fourth season of a five-year contract that he signed in December 2022.

"That latter half of the season, it was disappointing that I wasn't able to perform out there," Senga said. "Ultimately, the decision came down to we think that somebody else pitching instead of me is going to help the team win. So, that's what it kind of comes down to."

One personal note before we start dispensing information: Mets fans deserved better this year. You gave so much of yourselves.

Steve Cohen asked you to show up, and you did. You were loud. Your energy rocked Citi Field nearly every night. You made Queens the center of New York baseball, even as the collapse worsened. It’s such a waste that the team didn’t give you a playoff run.

Anyway, here are a few reported items in the immediate aftermath of the 4-0 loss in Miami that ended the Mets’ season.

What just happened?

David Wright once told me that while the 2007 Mets choked, the 2008 Mets were just not quite good enough, especially in the bullpen once Billy Wagner went down. This year felt far more like ‘08 than ‘07. The Mets were short on pitching and defense, period. There isn’t a stat for choking on Baseball Savant, so my point isn’t provable — but I didn’t see a lot of what looked like a choke job. I saw guys playing hard and going about their business (full disclosure, I wasn’t in Miami).

In the end, the team simply failed to prevent runs well enough. They didn’t have enough pitching, or even close. And they might have squeaked into the postseason with better defensive personnel.

So how will that improve?

On the pitching side, don’t be surprised if the Mets are aggressive off this debacle in trying to acquire an ace.

David Stearns does not believe in using free agency to overpay top starting pitchers. But what if Paul Skenes or Sandy Alcantara can be pried from their teams? If there is a way to land one of those two without trading Nolan McLean, why wouldn’t the Mets be aggressive?

Stearns will also need to reflect on the flawed process that led to wasting money on Frankie Montas. It’s easy from my seat to cherry-pick moves that did not work, but this one stuck out as a possible example of weighing data over an overwhelming human argument against the player.

Stearns wants to be great here, running the team he has loved since childhood. He is intelligent and ambitious enough to take a long look at how he and his group arrived at certain decisions that smart folks around the industry — not just the closed-minded haters — didn’t understand.

The Mets’ young pitching depth continues to be a reason for significant optimism regarding next year’s team.

As for the defense, that will improve over the years that Stearns is running the Mets. Look at the versatile and athletic Milwaukee Brewers. Stearns mostly inherited this position player group. He will gradually bring in better defenders.

Will the manager survive?

According to sources with direct knowledge, the Mets have no plans to fire Carlos Mendoza. A change would require a series of events that was not at all in motion as the Mets finished off their collapse on Sunday evening.

You should, however, expect notable and perhaps widespread changes to the coaching staff. This feels like the biggest news to watch in the immediate aftermath.

What will happen with Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and other stars?

It is entirely possible that both stars with opt outs played their final game at a Met on Sunday. These situations could go either way.

Obviously, there are Mets officials who would make an internal case to spread their money around on players other than a thirty-something first baseman and closer. Buckle up for more Alonso free agent uncertainty. 

And would the Mets go so far as to explore a trade market for stalwarts Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo? You can rest assured that the team’s leadership will reflect as deeply as possible on how to keep the Mets pointed in the right direction.

The Yankees have known they were going to be playing October baseball for a couple of days, but they found out their opponent Sunday as the 2025 regular season came to an end.

With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East title, New York (94-68) earned the top wild-card spot and will host the Boston Red Sox (89-73) in the AL Wild Card Series. All games will be played at Yankee Stadium.

Game 1 of the best-of-three set will be on Tuesday, September 30 at 6:08 p.m. on ESPN. 

Game 2 will be on Wednesday, October 1 (time TBD) and, if needed, Game 3 will be on Thursday, October 2.

New York and Boston are tied 12-12 in all-time postseason matchups, with the Red Sox winning the past three playoff series between the bitter rivals (2004 ALCS, 2018 ALDS, and 2021 Wild Card Game).

The Yankees last postseason series win over the Red Sox came in the 2003 ALCS.

The 2025 Metsmissed the playoffs with Sunday's 4-0 loss at the Miami Marlins, a season-ending result that second-year New York manager Carlos Mendoza owned.

"It's hard to describe," Mendoza said. "I just got done addressing the team and there's no word to describe what we're going through. It's pain, it's frustration — you name it. Came in with a lot of expectations and here we are, going home.

"Not only we fell short, we didn't even get into October. And this is a team that is built not only to get to October but to play deep into October. And again — pissed, sad, frustrated, you name it."

The Cincinnati Reds' 4-2 loss Sunday at the Milwaukee Brewers meant that, with a win, the Mets (83-79) could have still found a way in. However, Mendoza's team did not do itself any favors while getting blanked by Miami (79-83).

"That's a question that we're going to have to answer here because, the whole year, I kept saying, 'We've got the talent, we've got the talent,' and here we are — we're going home," Mendoza said of why the Mets' talent could not get the results.

"I take responsibility. I'm the manager. It starts with me, and I've got to take a long look here — how I need to get better. That was a message to the whole team as well. This is unacceptable."

Mendoza, 45, led the 2024 Mets to an 89-73 record as the third wild card and reached last year's NLCS in his first year as New York's manager. He was asked if he had "any concerns at all about" his "own future, potentially, in the organization." SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported Sunday after the Mets' loss that the team has "absolutely no plans" to fire him. 

"Since Day 1, when you're in this chair, you're on the hot seat — as simple as that," Mendoza said. "When you're managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that's part of it. That's it. I'm responsible, and I have to be better — as simple as that."

The Mets lost 4-0 to the Marlins in Miami on Sunday, ending their season in frustration as they were eliminated from postseason play.

New York had the incentive of knowing the Cincinnati Reds were losing in Milwaukee, and then lost to the Brewers, meaning they could earn the third wild-card spot by winning their game.

Yet they went quietly, finishing the season as the only team in the majors that lost every game in which it was trailing after eight innings.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Marlins gave the Mets plenty of opportunities, allowing seven walks, in addition to five hits, but Carlos Mendoza’s team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, a fitting ending of sorts for a team that was so inconsistent offensively all season, especially in RISP situations.

Their last gasp came in the eighth inning when they put runners at first and second with two outs against reliever Calvin Faucher, as both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez struck out chasing pitches out of the strike zone.

In Alvarez’s case, on a 3-2 pitch he chased a slider outside that would have been ball four, loading the bases. He then snapped his bat in half over his knee in anger.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera held the Mets to two hits over five innings, but also walked five hitters.

-- The Mets’ pitching plan became clear early when Mendoza pulled Sean Manaea in the second inning, after two walks put runners on first and second with two outs. He brought in Huascar Brazoban, who got out of the inning, and from there he tried to piece nine innings together by his high-leverage relievers in the early innings.

Brazoban and Brooks Raley got the game through three innings with the game scoreless, but the plan -- and the game -- unraveled in the fourth inning.

The two primary culprits were Ryne Stanek and Tyler Rogers. With a runner on first, Stanek paid for hanging a couple of sliders that Eric Wagaman and Brian Navarreto hit to the wall in left-center for RBI doubles to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

Rogers then came in and gave up two hard-hit balls, a triple to left-center by No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja and a line single to center by Xavier Edwards for a 4-0 lead.

-- Doing anything to keep the game close, Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the fifth inning, and the Mets’ closer delivered two scoreless innings as the game stayed at 4-0.

Ryan Helsley and then Gregory Soto each pitched a scoreless inning.

-- The Mets had their best chance in the fifth inning. Trailing 4-0, they loaded the bases against Cabrera on three walks, to Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto.

With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a laser toward left-center at 115.9 mph off the bat. At that exit velocity, and launch angle, the expected batting average on such a ball was .780. Yet, the speedy left fielder Sanoja sprinted to his left and made the catch on the run, as Alonso stopped in the first base line and stared, seemingly in disbelief.

Two innings earlier, with the game still scoreless, the Mets had another opportunity when Tyrone Taylor reached on an infield single to deep short, and Lindor walked.

With one out, Soto hit a ground ball up the middle, and with shortstop Otto Lopez playing him that way, it turned into an easy 6-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Game MVP: Edward Cabrera

The Marlins’ right-hander shut down the Mets over the first five innings, giving his team time to build a 4-0 lead that held up.

Highlights

Sean Manaea strikes out two in the first! pic.twitter.com/1cPYV4Llzd

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Lindor charges Otto Lopez's ground ball and makes the play for the out pic.twitter.com/RIWbUFWrBe

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Brazobán comes on and gets out of trouble! pic.twitter.com/gX4kHF3Zvs

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Lindor talked with Pete Alonso after Alonso's 116-MPH lineout to end the fifth inning pic.twitter.com/HXvMtDO6dS

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Alvarez snaps his bat over his leg after striking out to end the 8th pic.twitter.com/EdPzkQYfq8

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.

And it ended, fittingly, on a helplessly empty swing.

In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez waved at it for a strikeout like so many countless others before him.

With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).

Read more:Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Reds in the NL wild-card series

In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts motioned to fellow veteran Freddie Freeman, sending the first baseman out to the mound to remove Kershaw from his last career start.

When he got there, the two exchanged an embrace, Kershaw hugged the rest of his infield teammates, and then he acknowledged a cheering T-Mobile Park crowd as he walked back to the dugout.

He donned his cap, waved his arm and disappeared down the stairs — for perhaps the very last time.

If Kershaw is to take the mound again before retirement this winter, the Dodgers will have to advance through the first round of the playoffs.

Ahead of his scoreless 5 ⅓ inning start in the Dodgers’ 6-1 win against the Seattle Mariners in Sunday’s regular-season finale, Roberts said Kershaw would not be on the team’s roster for next week’s best-of-three wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds.

The decision isn’t shocking. Kershaw was not going to feature in the starting rotation for the series. And though he could have been an option in the bullpen, the Dodgers already have an abundance of left-handed relievers.

Thus, the Dodgers (who finished the season 93-69) will have to reach at least the National League Division Series for Kershaw to pitch in a major league game again. Roberts noted that, if the team does advance, Kershaw could be an option in any capacity.

“You just don’t know how things are gonna play out,” Roberts said. “I can see him starting a game. I can see him coming in for a short burst. I can see him in long relief. I can see him in a lot of ways. I don’t think anyone can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get through the wild card series, and see who’s standing after that.”

If this is the end of the line for Kershaw, he is going out on his own terms.

After being limited by injuries for much of the past three seasons — including missing all of last year’s World Series run with toe and knee injuries that ultimately required offseason surgery — the 37-year-old decided to return to the Dodgers this season for one last crack at a championship chase.

He wound up turning in one of his most impactful performances.

Though Kershaw’s 11-2 record and 3.36 ERA are no career highs, his ability to consistently produce over 23 outings this season (including a ninth-inning appearance as a reliever last week) proved to be invaluable for the Dodgers. He was a steady veteran presence early in the year, when the team was battling a wave of rotation injuries. He was a losing-skid stopper on multiple occasions over the second half, when the team nearly squandered a division lead that once was nine games.

Take a bow, Clayton. pic.twitter.com/ha33b8N8Hr

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 28, 2025

“I don’t think we’d have won the division,” Roberts said, when asked where the team would have been without Kershaw this season.

“He delivered 10 times over for us.”

Roberts acknowledged that Kershaw exceeded all of his expectations for the aging pitcher this season. He relished watching the all-time Dodgers icon write one last memorable chapter to his legendary, record-setting MLB career.

“He doesn’t want handouts, he doesn’t want freebies, he doesn’t want to be a token,” Roberts said. “He was a big part of what we accomplished this year.”

And, if the Dodgers can get through this week’s wild-card series, he still might be at some point in the playoffs as well.

Ohtani sets career, club HR mark

A year after breaking the Dodgers’ single-season home run record with a career-high 54 long balls last season, Shohei Ohtani reset the high mark once again Sunday.

After two-run home runs from Hyeseong Kim and Freeman early in the game, Ohtani extended the Dodgers' lead with a solo blast to center field in the seventh. It was his 55th homer of the year, leaving him one shy of Kyle Schwarber for most in the NL.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he would be scoreboard watching on Sunday afternoon.

But he insisted he didn’t care how things played out.

His team, of course, had already been locked in as the National League’s No. 3 seed, set to host a best-of-three wild card series starting Tuesday.

What wasn’t clear until the end of play on Sunday, however, was whether the Dodgers would be facing the Cincinnati Reds or New York Mets to open the postseason.

“I honestly don’t really care, I really don’t,” Roberts said. “I think the way we’re playing right now, it doesn’t matter who we play.”

Read more:Clayton Kershaw caps off legendary career with a win, Dodgers complete sweep of Mariners

In a photo finish for the NL’s final wild card berth, all the Reds needed was a win against the Milwaukee Brewers, or a Mets loss. The Mets needed a win and a Cincinnati defeat.

Turned out, the Reds got a Mets loss as the Marlins knocked off the Mets, 4-0, in Miami after Cincinnati dropped its finale to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2.

Thus, it will be the Reds coming to Chavez Ravine this week.

Here are nine things to know about the Reds ahead of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. (ESPN):

Tito magic

On Sept. 5, the Reds appeared left for dead. They were a game under .500. They were trailing the New York Mets by six games for the final NL wild card spot. They had two other teams to catapult in the standings.

But then, they reeled off 13 wins in their next 21 games, including an 8-3 run to end the year. They clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season, their first in a full campaign since 2013.

And they did it, first and foremost, by following the lead of their veteran manager.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers hero Kirk Gibson now tries to be a hero for those battling Parkinson's disease

At 66 years old, two-time World Series champion and three-time manager of the year Terry Francona came out of what appeared to be his managerial retirement to take another crack at contention with upstart Cincinnati.

His first season wasn’t easy, with a young pitching staff and a patchwork offense struggling to find consistency for much of the year. But over the last month, the Reds hit their stride while the Mets quickly collapsed. Now, Francona is back in the postseason for the 12th time in his 24-year career. His 44 career playoff wins are seventh-most all-time, one spot behind Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

Electric Elly

The Reds do not have an overpowering offense. They rank just 15th in scoring, 20th in batting average and 21st in home runs and slugging percentage. They have just two qualified batters with an above-league-average mark in OPS+.

One of them, however, is Elly De La Cruz.

And even at just 23 years old, he has become the biggest threat in their lineup.

In just his third MLB, De La Cruz earned his second All-Star selection while batting .264 with 21 home runs, 85 RBIs, a .774 OPS, and 37 stolen bases. In each of the last four categories, he leads the team.

A 6-foot-5, 200-pound switch-hitter, De La Cruz is prone to strikeouts (he has 178 this season) and is not hitting the ball as hard as he did last year. But he is also one of the game’s most intriguing and exciting up-and-coming talents, and will now get his first crack on a postseason stage.

Old friend alert

Nine months after being traded from the Dodgers to the Reds this past offseason, Gavin Lux will be playing October baseball at Dodger Stadium again.

Now in his sixth MLB season, Lux has still not realized the top-prospect potential he came up with in Los Angeles a half-decade ago. While he has hit a team-best .269 during his first season in Cincinnati, he has just five home runs, a .725 OPS, and a negative mark in wins-above-replacement according to Baseball Reference.

Read more:Ex-Dodger Gavin Lux embraces new role with Reds: ‘You have that chip on your shoulder’

What Lux has provided to his new club, however, is some World Series-winning experience. He has gone from a young role player on the Dodgers, to something of a veteran leader with the Reds.

Lux, whom the Dodgers traded away after signing Hyeseong Kim in January, has served in a utility role this year, getting starts at second base, left field and as the designated hitter. He didn’t have a great postseason with the Dodgers last year, when he hit just .176 during the team’s title run. But now, he has a chance to help upset the team that dealt him coming into the season.

Hunter Greene homecoming

Eight years ago, the Reds drafted right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene second overall out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

Now, after being a key part of their rebuild, the 25-year-old will get the chance to make his postseason debut at Dodger Stadium.

The strength of the Reds is their starting rotation, which ranks seventh in the majors in ERA this season and fourth during their surge since Sept. 6. Greene has been a key piece of the puzzle, going 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 19 starts despite missing more than two months in the middle of the year with a groin strain.

Greene is one of the hardest-throwing starters in the majors, with a fastball that averages 99.5 mph and a slider that clocks in at almost 90 mph. He’s one of the sport’s best at getting chase, whiff and strikeouts, ranking fifth among pitchers with 100 innings with a 31.4% K-rate.

Greene will also be lined up for a potential Game 1 start, having not pitched since Wednesday. The start before that was perhaps the best of his career: A one-hit, nine-strikeout shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 18.

The rest of the rotation

Greene might be the most gifted Reds’ starter, but others in their rotation have been even more productive this season.

Andrew Abbott, a 26-year-old left-hander who excels at limiting hard contact, is 9-7 with a 2.80 ERA in 28 starts. Nick Lodolo, another left-hander with an excellent curveball/changeup combination, is 9-8 with a 3.30 ERA, also in 28 starts.

The team’s wins and strikeout leader is Brady Singer, a lengthy 6-foot-5 right-hander who went 14-11 with a 3.95 ERA. Zack Littell is the other member of the Cincinnati rotation, though the trade deadline acquisition hasn’t been as good with the Reds (4.39 ERA) as he was with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this season (3.58 ERA).

The real question for next week is which of those arms are available. Abbott and Singer pitched on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to help the Reds clinch their playoff berth. Lodolo and Littell last threw the two days before that.

Red(s)-hot closer

Emilio Pagán was no stranger to the ninth inning before this year, having recorded 33 saves in his first eight MLB campaigns.

But this year, the veteran righty has been among the most dependable closers in the majors, as one of just six relievers with at least 30 saves (he has 31) and a sub-3.00 ERA (his is 2.93).

With his fastball/splitter/cutter mix, Pagán has been especially good down the stretch, having converted five consecutive save opportunities and thrown nine consecutive scoreless innings since Sept. 8.

The Reds’ talent might pale in comparison to the Dodgers at most spots on the roster. But the reliability of their closer is one place where they have a clear edge.

Ohtani killers?

The Reds finished the season with just one left-handed pitcher, Brent Suter, in their bullpen.

But when it comes to matching up with Shohei Ohtani, they do have a couple righties with successful personal histories against him.

Set-up man Graham Ashcraft and multi-inning swingman Nick Martinez have both faced Ohtani 10 times in their careers. The soon-to-be four-time MVP is 0-for-nine in both matchups, having drawn only one walk against each.

For reference: There are only seven other pitchers against whom Ohtani is at least 0-for-nine in his career (one of them, coincidentally, is a current teammate: Clayton Kershaw).

A deep bullpen

The Reds have two other relievers to know — and they might be the best two on the team.

Right-hander Tony Santillan not only led the majors with 80 appearances this season, but did so while posting a 2.44 ERA and allowing hitters to bat only .200 against him.

Read more:Dodgers beat Mariners, but which players will make the wild-card roster?

Another right-hander, 24-year-old Connor Phillips, has only been a full-time fixture on the Reds’ big-league roster since mid-August. But in that time, he has allowed only three runs in 18 ⅔ innings while striking out 26 batters and giving up five total hits.

Wild-card wackiness

The Reds will be the lower-seeded underdog in next week’s series. But recent history suggests that could work to their benefit.

In three postseasons since MLB expanded its playoff field in 2022, road teams have won in eight of the 12 best-of-three wild card series — a reminder that with such a small sample size, anything is possible in the crapshoot of October.

This year will be the Dodgers’ first time playing in the new wild card round, after they secured byes to the division series in each of the past three seasons.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The standings spoke for themselves, but the Angels’ management wanted you to know they had comprehended the lesson.

“Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way,” team president John Carpino told reporters five years ago. “We’re not winning games. So something is not right in our organization.”

That was after the 2020 season, and after five consecutive losing seasons. The Angels since have endured another five consecutive losing seasons.

The general managers have changed, and so have the managers. The only constants in this run: Carpino and owner Arte Moreno.

Read more:Angels can't overcome two home runs from Christian Walker in loss to Astros

I wanted to ask both men to share with fans what the Angels have determined about what was not right in their organization and how they have been going about trying to fix it. Neither man was available for an interview, a team spokesman said.

The standings continue to speak for themselves. The Angels finished in last place last season, with the worst record in team history. They sank into last place again this season, the first time in 50 years the Angels finished in last place in consecutive years.

Moreno, 79, explored selling the team three years ago but is not expected to do so this winter, according to people familiar with his thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.

He might be better served, some of those people said, to wait out the collective bargaining negotiations set to start next year and see if owners can push through a salary cap, which league executives believe would increase franchise values — that is, sale prices.

When Carpino spoke about “something is not right in our organization,” he did so in discussing the dismissal of Billy Eppler as general manager. In Eppler’s five years, the Angels posted a .469 winning percentage and finished a combined 110 games out of first place.

“It was a business decision,” Carpino said of Eppler’s firing. “And we’re in the business of winning baseball games, and we just didn’t win enough over the five-year period.”

In the five years under current general manager Perry Minasian, the Angels have posted a .442 winning percentage and finished a combined 111 games out of first place.

Moreno is expected to determine this week whether to retain Minasian and manager Ron Washington, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in June but would like to return. Minasian has one guaranteed year and an option year left in his contract. Washington, 73, has an option that the Angels had leaned toward picking up before he fell ill and went on medical leave.

It is unlikely Moreno could lure an established general manager to replace Minasian or a current manager to replace Washington. The likes of Andrew Friedman and Dave Dombrowski have declined overtures in past years from the Angels, who never have hired a president of baseball operations to work in concert with a general manager. (Minasian’s brother, Zack, is the San Francisco Giants’ general manager, working under president of baseball operations Buster Posey.)

The Angels absolutely need to tighten up their fundamentals, including sloppy defense and baserunning that has alarmed people who advise Moreno. That is Washington’s calling card. The Angels went 36-38 under Washington and 36-52 under interim manager Ray Montgomery.

The other finalist Moreno selected when he hired Washington, Buck Showalter, is available. So is longtime Orange County resident Skip Schumaker, the 2023 National League manager of the year for the Miami Marlins.

Torii Hunter, the former Angels star and current special assistant, is interested in managing and could command a clubhouse with the kind of relentless positivity Dave Roberts brings to the Dodgers. Darin Erstad, another former Angels star, has experience teaching young players as a college coach and would be a stickler for fundamentals and accountability. Albert Pujols would like to manage; Moreno already employs him under a personal services contract.

But this all comes down to players, of course. For two years now, the Angels have talked about nurturing a quality core of young players while running out the clock on Anthony Rendon’s $245-million contract, with the idea that Moreno might then reopen his checkbook to add the final free-agent pieces to a budding contender. Rendon’s contract runs out next year.

Read more:Mike Trout homers twice as Angels push Astros to brink of playoff elimination

Yet the Angels so far have developed just two young players who would unmistakably fit onto a championship roster: shortstop Zach Neto and pitcher José Soriano.

Outfielder Jo Adell could, if his 37-homer season — his first career season as a league-average hitter — is for real. Pitcher Reid Detmers could, at least as a reliever.

First baseman Nolan Schanuel and center fielder Bryce Teodosio could, if the Angels can find enough big bats to keep them in the lower half of the lineup. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe could, if his offensive and defensive regression can be corrected. Second baseman Christian Moore could, if his bat is as advertised.

That’s a lot of ifs, and even then the Angels still would have holes at third base, in the outfield, and throughout their pitching staff.

The Angels’ hitters this year led the majors in strikeouts and ranked in the bottom three in on-base percentage. The Angels’ pitchers had the highest earned-run average in the American League — as a starting corps, as a relief corps, and as a staff as a whole. The Angels’ defense, by one measure, was the worst in the AL.

The Angels can say they won nine more games this season than last — mostly thanks to better health. Five pitchers each started more than 20 games for the Angels this season; two did last season. Even still, the team’s run differential was the worst in the AL.

National analysts continue to rank their farm system as one of baseball’s thinnest; the Angels scoff and say they like their prospects. In July, however, they demoted their No. 5 starter to the minors without a minor league starter ready to fill in.

In an 11-day span, they twice used an infielder throwing 34 mph lobs to mop up a major league game, then ran out of pitchers in a triple-A game and used an infielder in a save situation (and lost the game). The lineups in recent weeks too often resembled those used on split-squad days in spring training.

I asked a high-ranking National League official whether the responsibility for persistently weak depth should properly fall upon Minasian. Sure, the official said, but then he reminded me that bidding wars are not always at the major league level, for millions of dollars. The best minor league free agents look for the best deal too, and that often is not found in Anaheim.

That is really the issue. The Angels are a major-market team operating for now as a mid-market team.

Remember last winter, when the Athletics lured pitcher Luis Severino to Sacramento for $67 million and everyone in baseball pointed out the A’s never had signed anyone for that much money?

Read more:Home runs by Jo Adell, Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout can't save Angels from loss

Under Minasian, you know how many players Moreno has signed for that much money? Zero. Moreno understandably shied away from the big bucks after the Rendon and Josh Hamilton disasters, but Minasian’s record contract is $63 million, for pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

The Angels’ major league player payroll, while in the $200-million range, ranks among the middle third of teams — and a third of that is payable to Rendon and Mike Trout. Their attendance, up slightly from last year but down about 25% from its peak, ranks among the middle third of teams. Their television revenue is down significantly from last year, after the parent company of what was then called Bally Sports emerged from bankruptcy.

All of that is why it is important for fans to hear from Moreno and Carpino what they determined was not right in their organization and how they have been going about trying to fix it. It is not evident in the standings, or to the fans deciding whether to buy tickets, or to pay to watch from home.

And then fans can decide whether to continue to appreciate affordable baseball, staffed by friendly people, in aging but comfortable Angel Stadium, or instead to enjoy championship-caliber baseball at Dodger Stadium or Petco Park.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.