Category: MLB

Aaron Judge is back and (almost) all is well with the world. However, our focus today is not the offense but on the pitching side of things. Specifically, a sequence from Will Warren pitching in perhaps his impending role as a multi-inning reliever.

We join Warren with two outs in the sixth inning last Friday in San Diego. Max Fried has exceeded expectations to give the Yankees 5.2 innings of one-run ball on just 72 pitches in his second start back from his most recent elbow bone bruise IL stint. The score is tied, 1-1, Ben Rice answering Xander Bogaerts’ RBI single with a solo home run in the third. Warren is called on for just his second relief appearance of the year, and it gets off to an inauspicious start with Warren walking Ty France on four straight fastballs that were miles from the zone.

That brings the once-dangerous Jackson Merrill to the plate, the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up having regressed significantly with each subsequent year in the bigs. Nonetheless, it’s a nightmare scenario for Warren, who struggles mightily facing lefties and pitching out of the stretch.

Warren has to get ahead of Merrill, if only to fully turn the page on the four errant fastballs he sprayed against France.

Austin Wells sets a target low and away, but Warren misses his spot and ends up hoofing this 94 mph four-seamer pretty much right down the middle. He’s lucky that Merrill left the bat on his shoulder, perhaps hunting a get-me-over breaking pitch after watching Warren walk France.

The benefit of establishing the fastball for a called strike early on is it should generate chase potential on breaking and off-speed pitches below the zone. That is exactly Wells’ thinking here as he calls for a changeup off the plate low and away.

Once again, Warren yanks this pitch inside, missing his target by almost two feet. At no point during its flight does this changeup look like a strike, making for a very simple take from Merrill.

So far both of Warren’s misses have been to the glove side, his release point on both the four-seamer and changeup a fraction late. Regardless, Wells calls for another changeup — a pitch Merrill has struggled to hit from righties the last two seasons.

That’s three pitches and three badly missed locations. Warren leaves this changeup up — fortunately for him the tailing movement that carries the pitch off the plate away is enough to keep the ball off Merrill’s barrel.

Somewhat serendipitously, Warren finds himself ahead in the count, 1-2. If there is one pitch Merrill has always been able to hit, it’s the curveball, and he likely knows Warren’s tendency to throw them way more against lefties. The trick with a pitch you know the hitter is hunting is to throw it far enough away from the zone that it’s impossible to do damage, but still close enough to entice him to swing.

The process here is sound but the execution was not. This curveball is simply not close enough to the zone to extract a chase from Merrill.

After three straight slower secondaries, Warren feels the time is right for one of his trademark sinkers thrown to the glove-side edge of the plate. His sinker can exhibit in excess of a foot-and-a-half of tailing arm-side movement, which is how he has at times proven adept at that called strike three looking front door against lefties and back door against righties.

I count this as the third pulled pitch by Warren in this AB, his release point still not quite right. Just like the 0-1 changeup he threw, this sinker looks like a ball for the duration of its flight toward home which means another straightforward take from Merrill.

Warren has squandered the count leverage he possessed with two non-competitive two-strike pitches, and now he faces a full count. It’s good to see that he doesn’t immediately give in and groove a fastball, and instead continues to hunt the strikeout with a back-foot sweeper.

Merrill is a hair early with his swing and tops it foul. This is probably the best executed pitch of the bunch, and even then it could have been better. Even though it lands on the corner down and in, it’s a dangerous pitch to throw a lefty looking to pull the ball — ideally you would like to get it a little lower and a little farther inside. Even in a 3-2 count, Warren gets so much movement on his sweeper that there’s a good chance the batter will chase, and if not, a walk is better than a two-run homer.

After finally showing Merrill a pitch that breaks toward him, Warren immediately switches back to the changeup that fades away. If he can throw it down a similar tunnel as the sweeper he just threw, he’ll have a good chance at the strikeout swinging, even on a pitch out of the zone away.

Make that four pitches that Warren has yanked. As a righty, you generally do not want to throw a changeup down and in to a lefty because the movement of the pitch runs it directly into the sweet spot of the barrel. Luckily for Warren, Merrill has yet to show that he can adjust his swing path low enough to do anything other than foul off these secondary pitches down and in.

It seems like Warren gets fed up with trying and failing to execute one of his secondaries, because he decides to throw his four-seamer as hard as he can by the hitter.

This pitch comes right down the pipe, but once again Merrill’s swing path only allows him to strike the top of the baseball. George Lombard Jr. is perfectly positioned to gobble up the grounder up the middle and fire to first to end the inning. I have long maintained that Warren is far too cavalier with his fastball in the zone, particularly with two strikes. At 92-94 it’s just not a good enough pitch to groove to big league hitters. However, as his fastest pitch of the day at 97 mph, that added velo creates a little more margin for error.

Here’s the full sequence:

This is certainly an outlier for Sequence of the Week in that none of the pitches Warren threw were particularly well executed. I also normally do not select ABs or sequences from losing efforts, but this one stood out because of the broader context of the Yankees’ pitching situation. If everything goes according to plan, Warren will not be pitching in the rotation come the postseason. Therefore, this AB and his relief outing as a whole can serve as a proof of concept for Warren’s deployment out of the bullpen if and when all of their starters are fully healthy and built up.

There are still a lot of rough edges to the second-year pitcher’s game — case in point, he gets to a 1-2 count with relative ease, but then required another five pitches to retire Merrill after consecutive put-away pitches landed nowhere close to the zone. I’m sure many are also understandably still scarred from the six runs he gave up in 4.2 innings of relief in Game 2 of the 2025 ALDS against the Blue Jays. However, I feel that this AB showcases the way his stuff can play up when he pitches at max effort in shorter bursts as a reliever rather than have to conserve energy and save bullets to make it through a start. If nothing else, the mistakes he makes in the zone with his fastball are less apt to get punished. The secondary pitches in his arsenal are too good to get such pedestrian results, and I think those pitches could see an uptick in whiff and chase when thrown off a higher velocity heater in relief.

LOS ANGELES — When Tarik Skubal walked off the mound with one out in the eighth inning with a slim lead on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, the top of the Cincinnati Reds batting order was due up, and in came Edgardo Henríquez out of the Dodgers bullpen.

The hard-throwing right-hander allowed a double to Elly De La Cruz, who had homered twice in the series to that point, but otherwise escaped without damage, painting a 101.9-mph fastball to strike out Sal Stewart looking to end the inning.

“I love watching him play. He throws the hell out of the baseball, and it’s so effortless. He’s huge, he’s a monster,” Skubal said. “It’s fun, when he comes in after you you feel very confident you’re going to win the ballgame, especially in a one-run game.”

In three of Skubal’s seven starts, Henríquez has directly followed him on the mound.

“What he’s been able to do since I’ve been here, he’s been shutdown. In my first game here he came in in the sixth inning or something, and I was like, ‘Woah, this is the guy we’re rolling out in the sixth?’,” Skubal added. “It’s 102, it’s nasty, a really good slider, the cutter has kind of developed into a good weapon for him. He’s intense out there, I love everything about his moxie and what he brings to the mound.”

This season, Henríquez has pitched in every inning from the first through the 11th, and he’s been incredibly effective, with a 2.62 ERA and 2.36 xERA in 59 games, with 69 strikeouts and 24 walks in 58 1/3 innings, with a 29.9-percent strikeout rate. Over half of his innings have been in the seventh or eighth, but he’s been gradually pitching in higher-leverage situations, including the eighth inning on Tuesday and the save on Sunday night, his second of the season.

Henriquez is still only 24 years old but has already lived quite a baseball life. Signed out of Venezuela in 2018, Henriquez was a starting pitcher who made it to Class-A Rancho Cucamonga at age 19 in 2021, but after only 14 games in 2022 he had Tommy John surgery that knocked him out for all of the 2023 season as well.

Back in 2024 as a reliever, Henriquez pitched at all four minor league levels before getting called up to the Dodgers during the final week of the regular season. Dave Roberts at the time said of Henríquez, “Very excited, he’s a really great kid, with a big arm. He’s certainly a weapon.”

It hasn’t quite been two years since Henríquez debuted, but his profile and role have expanded, especially of late. Dating back to June 1, opposing batters have just two hits in 45 at-bats that ended on a four-seam fastball, with 24 strikeouts.

On the season, Henríquez has thrown his four-seam fastball 33.7 percent of the time, and his sinker 25 percent. In his excellent run in August and September, he’s at 38.1 percent for the four-seamer and 18.8 percent for the sinker. But both pitches have been effective, both averaging in triple digits, with 100.9 mph on the sinker and 100.7 mph for the four-seam fastball.

Of the 17 pitches Henríquez has thrown at least 103 mph this year, 10 were four-seamers and seven sinkers. His five fastest pitches of the year came last Friday against the Washington Nationals, including two sinkers at 104.5 mph and 104.1 mph. In the last two weeks, he’s finished off strikeouts at 103.6 mph.

Edgardo with a 104 mph sinker. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VAa3GMWNNu

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 29, 2026

“It’s the confidence he has in his fastball. Everybody knows it’s not easy to hit 103, 104 coming at you with confidence,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said Tuesday. “That’s been the difference between the Edgardo we saw at the beginning of the year, and the Edgardo we’re seeing right now.”

Henríquez had an uncharacteristically wild July, with eight walks in 10 1/3 innings to go with his 10 strikeouts, then in his first outing of August he walked three and allowed three runs in an inning-plus against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Since then, Henríquez has only walked two of his 52 batters faced and has only allowed one run in his last 16 appearances, while striking out 24 batters with an eye-popping 46.2-percent strikeout rate.

“The last six weeks, the efficiency rate, the strike-throwing, the quality of strikes is much better. The breaking ball is much better, and I think that’s just kind of confidence,” Roberts said Tuesday. “He’s just a different person now than he was six weeks ago.”

Major League Baseball has set specific rules for allowing a position player to pitch in a blowout game.

The player’s team has to be trailing by eight or more runs at any point, or be ahead by 10 or more runs in the ninth inning. Position players can also pitch at any point in extra innings.

This has turned from “ha, ha, this is entertaining” to something farcical. We’ve seen this a couple of times with the Cubs this year, when Dansby Swanson hit his third home run of the game off San Diego’s backup catcher Rodolfo Durán in the 23-3 blowout of the Padres July 1, and Alex Bregman doing the same off Andrew Vaughn of the Brewers when the Cubs blasted Milwaukee 17-3 on Aug. 31. In that game, Bregman’s third homer gave the Cubs nine for the game, breaking the franchise record set last year.

Is that all fun? Sure, if you’re the team that’s ahead. Is it baseball? Not really. I’ve suggested in the past that MLB could establish a mercy rule where teams could agree to just stop playing after the seventh inning if there’s a certain deficit, most recently last February.

Position player pitching used to be fairly rare. But check this out:

Cubs have now faced ELEVEN different position players this season.

They have a combined 18.47 ERA in 12.2 innings this season (26 runs, 37 hits).

Cubs batters against them:
87 PA, .507/.575/.849, 1.424 OPS, 7 HR

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) September 1, 2026

That’s batting practice, not competitive baseball. Those 11 are among 110 (!) different position players who have pitched this year. That’s more than doubled the 48 position players who pitched last year. You can see all such players in MLB history here.

Last week at Fangraphs, Jay Jaffe wrote a long article on this topic in which he suggested this change to position players pitching (PPP):

Raising the PPP threshold to a nine-run deficit for the losing team would cut into the number of those appearances, as would prohibiting them from happening before the eighth inning. Either or both steps might serve to concentrate more PPP within a smaller footprint, which appears to be the case since 2023, but from a competitive standpoint, so what?

Rule-wise, another thing to do is to cap the length of an individual PPP stint, whether by innings, pitches, or batters faced.

That could work, but I have a different idea.

What if teams all had “emergency pitchers” who could pitch in situations like this, similar to the emergency goalie who is with NHL teams? Those guys don’t get into games often, though you likely remember Scott Foster, the Blackhawks emergency goalie who once played college hockey and then settled into a life as an accountant. He wound up playing in a 2019 game for the Blackhawks and made several saves.

So what if MLB teams signed deals with guys like that with baseball experience? Say, a college pitcher who didn’t make it to a pro career, or a guy who had some minor league seasons but was let go, maybe some guy who played a bit of indy ball.

Here’s how I’d do it. Each team would have one pitcher like that around for every game. He’d work out with the team and be ready to pitch in a blowout situation. That pitcher would be attached to the home team, though he could also pitch for the visitors if needed. Teams might have to have multiple guys available like this because those folks, like Foster, might have other jobs, and unlike the NHL, baseball is an everyday sport. If such a pitcher had to pitch, at least he could do a credible job and not throw 43 mile per hour floaters termed “knuckleball” on video boards. (Hint: They’re not knuckleballs.) Although, the database does have one correct slow pitch, noted here from Vaughn to Matt Shaw twice in that Aug. 31 rout:

This is where that “eephus” pitch wound up [VIDEO].

Here’s how hard and how far that ball was hit [VIDEO].

Remember this pitch that was thrown by Frank Schwindel for the Cubs in 2022? At the time it was said to be the slowest MLB pitch ever hit for a home run:

I wouldn’t count the emergency pitcher against any roster limit because, well, most of the time he’s not going to pitch. But at least if and when he did pitch, he could probably throw a decent enough selection of major league pitches so that even in a blowout, his team could play, you know, a game resembling real baseball instead of batting practice. The team would pay these players a modest sum. NHL emergency goalies get $500 per game (plus a jersey!); MLB teams could certainly afford even more than that (and wouldn’t have to count it against any payroll limits or luxury tax).

What do you think?

Texas Rangers lineup for September 10, 2026 against the Seattle Mariners: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Logan Gilbert for the Mariners.

It is the last game of the series in Seattle, the last game the Rangers will play against Seattle this season, and a win would be a very fine thing indeed.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Duran — 3B

Nimmo — RF

Langford — LF

Carter — CF

Burger — 1B

Lopez — 2B

Jansen — C

3:10 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +106 underdogs.

The Guardians’ front office has been aggressive this season. It’s no time to stop now with fifteen games left.

Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff’s group did almost nothing this offseason, betting on their young players and their ability to make needed trades at the deadline. While this was frustrating (likely driven by ownership), they have been admirably aggressive in promotions and demotions this season. From getting Parker Messick and Chase DeLauter on the opening day roster to promoting Juan Brito, Travis Bazzana, Kahlil Watson, Daniel Espino and Angel Genao at the first opportunities to acquiring Craig Yoho, Jo Adell, Nathaniel Lowe and Foster Griffin at the trade deadline, Guardians’ brass has done what they promised to do.

However, the Guardians are still 2.5 games down in the AL Central and only 1 game ahead in the wildcard race. The job is not done. And, the current roster is starting Jo Adell against right-handed pitching (82 wRC+ for his career) and carrying both Petey Halpin and Daniel Schneemann on the roster. It’s time, folks, to make one last aggressive move to try to give this team a chance to push themselves across the finish line.

Dealer’s choice – Cooper Ingle or Ralphy Velazquez. One of these bats needs to be promoted and given at-bats in left-field and DH (and some first base in Ralphy’s case or catcher in Ingle’s case, as needed).

Ingle has a 155 wRC+ with a 23/19 K/BB% in Columbus. His first taste of the big leagues went incredibly poorly. He still has a chance to really help against RHP if given another shot; he has a 1.018 OPS vs. RHP and an .865 OPS at away games. He is likely to provide far more than Adell can against RHP and needs to be given that chance.

Alternatively, show the fanbase you really mean business and bring up Ralphy Velazquez. Since getting acclimated to Triple-A, starting on August 1st, Velazquez has a 197 wRC+ with an 18.6/13.2 K/BB%. He is breaking down the door to the big leagues, as they say. Ralphy has an .812 OPS in away games and a .983 OPS vs. RHP. He’s destroying fastballs and making steady progress against offspeed and breaking balls. As we have seen with Bazzana and Genoa, you can get an immediate bump from a bat like Ralphy when you bring him up as the league races to adjust to them. I am at the point today where the immediate bump is needed and it’s worth gambling that a lockout might cost him development time next season to try to secure a playoff berth this season GIVEN that Adell has proven incapable of hitting RHP consistently and given Jose’s continued struggles. I understand punting that decision until now, but it’s time, guys. It’s time.

Now, Ralphy didn’t play the past two Clippers’ games. Is he hurt? Is he already on his way to Minnesota? I don’t know, but I do believe the time is now to swing for the fences, both metaphorically and literally. If not, then give Ingle another opportunity. The team has a chance for a playoff berth and a division title. Don’t jump off the aggressive promotion horse that has brought you this far. Ride him through to the end.

The Dodgers didn’t need any more affirmation of Josue De Paula’s talent and potential.

But on Wednesday afternoon, the 21-year-old mega-prospect provided some anyway.

In his latest standout game with double-A Tulsa, De Paula delivered the kind of tour-de-force performance that has become commonplace for him this season, as he has established himself as the best player in the Dodgers’ farm system and a top-10 overall prospect in the sport. 

He hit a solo home run in the first inning, pulling a hanging 0-2 pitch deep to right field for his 27th blast this season. He followed that with an RBI double in the seventh, muscling an opposite-field drive that smacked off the wall in the left-center field gap. Then, in the ninth, he drew a bases-loaded walk on five pitches, matching his earlier display of power with a disciplined approach in the box. 

The two-hit, three-RBI, seven-base showcase felt almost routine.

All year, De Paula has been exhibiting such all-around offensive dominance.

“He’s starting to round out as a complete hitter,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said last week.

Which is why, come Friday night, De Paula will be able to describe himself as a big-league hitter for the first time, too.

Shortly after Wednesday’s game with the team’s double-A affiliate, De Paula learned he was getting promoted –– not to triple-A, but straight to the majors, where he will make his MLB debut with the Dodgers this weekend during their series in Miami.

This wasn’t a predetermined decision by the two-time defending champions, of course.

De Paula is only coming up now because Shohei Ohtani has gone down with right arm and left knee injuries that finally precipitated an injured list stint.

Still, for De Paula to make this big of a jump, becoming the first Dodgers hitter during Andrew Friedman’s tenure as president of baseball operations to be called up directly from double-A, he had to convince the team of his development and maturation.

“I think he’s starting to understand that if you want to play here, you have to do it all,” Gomes said, again speaking prior to De Paula’s promotion last week. “And I think that was a big step forward this year, which is really encouraging.”

De Paula has been a big name in the prospect world for a while now, quickly blossoming as a potential star-in-the-making after a relatively modest signing of less than $400,000 as an amateur in 2022.

A native of New York and nephew of former All-NBA guard Stephon Marbury, the 6-foot-3 slugger has a powerful left-handed swing that has drawn comparisons to Houston Astros MVP frontrunner Yordan Alvarez.

Possessing natural athleticism and precocious hitting instincts, he broke into affiliated minor-league ball by the time he was just 18 in 2023.

His career has been on the ascent ever since, highlighted by MVP honors at MLB’s Futures Game during last season’s All-Star week, and top-50 spots in prospect rankings from both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline at the end of last year.

This spring, however, the Dodgers came to De Paula with a challenge –– seeking improvements in his poorly rated corner outfield defense, and more general growth in his daily process.

“If you want to play for us,” Gomes recalled of the team’s message, “that has to be the bar.”

Thus, De Paula took one stride after another this season, impressing beyond a gaudy double-A stat line featuring a .303 average, 27 home runs, 104 RBIs, 31 stolen bases, a .948 OPS and an 87-to-81 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

His defense underwent the most notable change, thanks in part to hands-on coaching he received with Dodgers special assistant and former MLB All-Star Jason Heyward in Tulsa. Though evaluators are still split on whether his fielding up to big-league standards at this point, Gomes said the Dodgers have nonetheless been pleased with his “focus and effort” in that area this year, easing their long-term concerns that his glove will be a limiting flaw.

Then there are the advances that De Paula has displayed at the plate, progressing from a raw and inconsistent hitter in his previous minor-league seasons to someone the Dodgers are now “very confident” in to “conduct an at-bat” in the majors, as manager Dave Roberts described Wednesday night.

It started with a mechanical change in De Paula’s swing, in which he lowered his hands and straightened out his release.

“He was getting too twisted and kind of fighting himself,” Gomes said of De Paula’s old swing, which had never accounted for more than 12 home runs in a season. “[The change] was nothing too drastic. Just a natural maturation process.”

Even more profound was the evolution of De Paula’s hitting approach, from the way he approached situational at-bats (his .389 average with runners in scoring position leads the Texas League) to his ability to shorten up with two strikes and use the whole field (his .828 OPS in such counts is more than 100 points better than his next closest double-A peer).

“He has always been a really good performer,” Gomes said. “The ability to go the other way and work at-bats, it was just another step.”

That doesn’t mean the step up to the big leagues will be easy, especially as he gets thrown into the fire with regular starts at DH in Ohtani’s absence.

But out of everyone the Dodgers could have called up, De Paula –– who has climbed to No. 4 in Baseball America’s overall prospect rankings and No. 6 in MLB Pipeline’s –– has established the highest ceiling.

Another factor: Unlike fellow outfielder prospects such as James Tibbs III and Mike Sirota, De Paula was going to have to be added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster this offseason in order to be protected from the Rule 5 draft.

That’s why, when the need for another bat arose in the wake of Ohtani’s IL decision, he was the first name they turned to, disregarding his age and lack of triple-A experience in hopes his potential is ready to translate to the majors.

“We’ve seen him in camp for two or three years. He doesn’t run from velocity. He controls the strike zone,” Roberts said. “I think this is just a good opportunity for him to kind of cut his teeth in the big leagues … We can get him some major league at-bats and see how that looks.”

No need to freak-out about Adley Rutschman missing last night’s game, the second game in a row he’s missed: it was a scheduled night-off and the team plans on getting him back into the lineup tomorrow. He did, however, receive a cortisone injection for his balky elbow, but the team says you shouldn’t freak out about that either. “It wasn’t an injection like, ‘Oh, something went wrong.’” said Chad Tracy. “It was an injection that was like, ‘We got him through with the days off [earlier].’ And looking at, as we came home, we knew he was going to be out on Tuesday anyway. And timing-wise, we were looking for a window to do that — to get him over the hump.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

So it’s great that they’re not giving something went wrong injections to Adley, who isn’t the only player who missed last night’s game with a sore body part. Eli White was also out of the lineup after crashing into the centerfield fence attempting to make a catch on Tuesday night. “He’s sore, very sore,” said Tracy. “His foot jammed into that garage door when he went up (to attempt to make the catch) and that foot shoved into (the door). He’s out. He’s going to go through some imaging today — maybe tonight or maybe (Thursday) morning, just to see exactly what’s going on there.” (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

The Sox can afford to give a few days off to Rutschman. And, thankfully, the cavalry is coming. Ceddanne Rafaela is expected to come off the IL on Tuesday, while Willson Contreras will play in a minor league rehab game this weekend with Portland. “He just wants to get on his feet,” Tracy said. “He’s been down for a while, and just to get on his feet and actually see some pitching, move around at first base, maybe get on base.”

If Rutschman does miss any more time, at least the Sox have the resurgent bat of Mickey Gasper to slot into the lineup. Gasper’s unprecedented late-season hot streak is one of the coolest stories of the year. What kind of outlook has led to it? “I would describe it as almost delusional. Seriously,” said Steve Lomasney, who coached Gasper as a high schooler. “You have to be that way: ‘I’m going to compete as hard as I possibly can, and I’m never going to lose because my work ethic is going to be better than the other guys.’ And that’s how Mickey approaches things.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Sonny Grey’s success this year hasn’t completely come out of nowhere the way Gasper has, but it is noteworthy that he’s having arguably the best season of his career at age 36. But perhaps it’s not all that surprising. “Gray is renowned for his meticulous work between starts — the precision with which he practices his delivery, the journaling he does about every facet of each workday, the care he puts into what he eats, the commitment to preparation.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Roman Anthony is at the complete opposite end of the career spectrum as Gray. As such, he’s still working out the mental aspect of the game. Mired in a mini slump recently, he tried to reframe approach at the plate heading into last night’s game. “Just gotta get back to that leadoff mentality role,” Anthony said. “I think the swings sometimes get a little bit hard and maybe try to do too much at times. So for me, just a constant work in progress to get back into that leadoff hitter mode and get back to playing the brand of baseball that we know how to play best and just pass it on to the next guy.” (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Well. Another pathetic showing from a St. Louis Cardinals bullpen resulted in a series sweep against a mediocre opponent. This team has constantly shown it plays to the level of their competition, but the series against the Giants went too far.

After winning five of their last six series on the road, including taking the season series against the Dodgers, the Cardinals had momentum against the miserable Giants only to see the season pretty much come to an end in San Francisco. To get over the emotions this three-game set made me feel, I dusted off the podcast equipment and finally recorded a new episode of Cardinals on My Time.

Joining me on the episode was returning guest Matt Blaker, and nothing against Matt, but I was pumped to have Tanner Larkins joining the pod as well. Chances are, you have no idea who that is and I just came across his profile earlier this week. Tanner is the front man for a band called Bayview Lane and his two singles instantly caught my attention. Add on the fact he was rocking a Cardinals hat in his videos while being from the Chicago area like me, he was the perfect guest to have on with Matt and me.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Cardinals bullpen failure was the plan all along for Chaim Bloom

In the episode, we talked about the rollercoaster ride of the season, roster management, but also focused on the future. To me, the most frustrating point of this season was the roster management, be it playing short-handed through injuries or with a seemingly always “taxed” bullpen. The bullpen conversation was made worse after this series, but the problems revert all the way back to the offseason despite the early season success and breakout of certain guys.

One thing we talked about was that this bullpen creation, or lack thereof, was done intentionally. That is one of the more upsetting things to me (and keep your “this is a rebuild” comments to yourself) because this was a clear hole all year. Of course, bullpens are a crapshoot every year, but you’re telling me adding another one or two higher profile relievers would prevent the rebuild from happening? Worst case scenario, you pull the plug on those arms in a season that doesn’t matter, middle case, you flip them at the deadline, best case, you’re actually competing for a playoff spot instead of blowing 37 leads.

We finished the episode by comparing the Cardinals to the White Sox, who are competing for a division title despite losing 100 games back-to-back seasons. With that, I brought up the question for how aggressive Bloom needs to be in 2027 (yes there will be a season) to make sure the team capitalizes on their young players’ primes.

The series against the Giants was the final nail in the coffin, but I will still be interested in seeing what guys like Leo Bernal and Joshua Baez can do, or if Thomas Saggese can fix the hole at third base. I would like to see some more of the young arms get a shot in the last couple weeks so I will still be connected on a near-daily basis.

It was good to get back on the podcast train and I hope to get back on it more consistently here soon. (Great timing, Scott, since the season is over). If you enjoy the show or the content, please give me a subscribe on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts and join me over on Twitter.

Finally, please give Tanner some love on his new music linked below. If you’re in the Chicago/Milwaukee area, make sure you take a look at Tanner’s schedule to see him play some live shows!

Thanks as always!

Here's the latest on some of the Mets top prospects who are playing in the minor leagues...

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Jefferson Rojasstayed hot, going 2-for-4 at Double-A Binghamton in their 5-2 win over the Portland Sea Dogs.

Rojas notched his first hit on a fly ball to right field in the third inning before smacking a double to left field in the sixth inning. 

Since being acquired from the Cubs in the trade deadline deal that sent Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor to Chicago, Rojas has been on fire. In 130 plate appearances over 28 games for Binghamton, the 21-year-old is slashing .283/.341/.602 (.943 OPS) with nine homers, seven doubles, one triple, 23 runs scored, and 29 RBI.

With Binghamton's season ending this weekend, it's possible Rojas is promoted to Triple-A Syracuse for the final week of their campaign. 

***

Jonathan Santuccicontinued his string of sharp starts for Syracuse, allowing one run on five hits over five innings while walking none and striking out six.

Santucci, who profiles as a potential mid-rotation starter at the next level, figures to make his big league debut during the 2027 season.

***

Billy Amick went 1-for-4 for Syracuse while Emilien Pitre went 0-for-4 with a walk and run scored.

Jefry Yan made his first appearance since being sent down, giving up one hit, one walk, and striking out one in one-third of an inning. 

It’s been over a month since the trade deadline came and went and we’re still getting information on a trade that never actually happened. The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers were very close to getting a deal done that would bring Jacob deGrom to Atlanta but until today, we didn’t know who or what Atlanta would be sending in return. The deal got close enough to where it came down to deGrom making a decision with his no-trade clause and that’s why he’s still in Texas, so we know that the Braves had agreed to trade someone away.

It appears that one of the “who’s” might’ve been Spencer Strider. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote an article about players across baseball who could be on the move via trade in the offseason and one of the names that came up was Strider. Feinsand wasted no time in sharing the details from the trade that never was:

The Braves discussed sending Strider to Texas in a contract swap trade for Jacob deGrom before the Trade Deadline, and although deGrom blocked the deal with his no-trade clause, it’s clear that Atlanta is open to moving its former ace.

Feinsand also noted that while the Braves are holding out hope that Strider could help out in the Postseason coming out of the bullpen, they are also keeping their options open and could be trying to find a suitor who believes that they can get Strider back to where he was before while taking some talent for their farm system as well.

Either way, it’s definitely intriguing to see that this is where the Braves are at with Strider at this point. If you woke up from a coma in 2022 to learn that the Braves could be shopping Spencer Strider around, you might’ve figured that it was because his contract demands were too large since he had become such a dominant force on the mound. Instead, Strider has struggled with injuries and inconsistent performances when healthy and the outlook has changed significantly for Strider.

Again, there’s always the possibility that Strider can figure it out and that he’ll continue to prove to be an effective pitcher for the Braves (whether it’s in the rotation or as a reliever) but assuming Feinsand’s reporting is accurate, Atlanta clearly no longer views Spencer Strider as being untouchable. We’ll see what happens going forward and we’ll also see if we keep on getting more information about this aborted Jacob deGrom trade with each passing month.

As you know, the Cubs hold the tiebreaker over the three teams closest to them in the Wild Card race, the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Padres. This is extremely important now because the Cubs trail the Phillies by 1.5 games entering Thursday’s action, and the Phillies/Astros game will be happening this afternoon. The Cubs are 2.5 games ahead of the Padres and three games ahead of the Diamondbacks.

Tankathon has the Phillies with the toughest strength of schedule of the four clubs (fourth). The Cubs are ninth, Diamondbacks 20th and Padres 21st, entering Thursday’s action.

Here are the remaining schedules for all four teams. Home games in boldface.

Cubs, 15 games (9 home, 6 road)

Pirates (3), Braves (3), at Reds (3), Marlins (3), at Red Sox (3)

The Cubs dropped from fifth to ninth in the Tankathon ranking after the Brewers series. They have six games remaining against postseason contenders and nine against other clubs.

Phillies, 16 games (7 home, 9 road)

Astros (1), at Braves (3), at Nationals (3), at Mets (3), Brewers (3), Rays (3)

That’s 10 of 16 games against teams currently in first place, including today vs. the Astros. The Phillies are currently under .500 (28-31) against teams with winning records. That could help out the Cubs.

The Brewers might wind up really helping out the Cubs when that series happens, even though Milwaukee likely has clinched the NL Central by then. They still might have to win games to clinch home field. The Rays currently lead the Yankees by four games, but who knows? The AL East race might come down to the wire.

Padres, 16 games (6 home, 10 road)

at Giants (3), at Rockies (4), Marlins (3), at Dodgers (3), Diamondbacks (3)

The Padres have an “easy” stretch coming up, then finish up with six against postseason contenders. Those last three Diamondbacks/Padres games could help decide one of the wild card spots. San Diego is just 32-39 away from Petco Park.

Diamondbacks, 15 games (9 home, 6 road)

Rangers (3), Marlins (3), Yankees (3), at Rockies (3), at Padres (3)

A combination of teams fighting for postseason spots and teams way out of it. The D-backs and Padres have split their first 10 games this year, and the teams also have split at each other’s parks, 2-2 in San Diego and 3-3 in Arizona.

Fasten your seat belts!

TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (74-72) and Philadelphia Phillies (82-64) will play the rubber match of this series this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

RHP Cristian Javier (2-5, 5.98 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. Phils RHP Zack Wheeler (12-5, 3.23 ERA).

REMATCH: RHP Cristian Javier faced off against RHP Zack Wheeler in his only career regular season start/app. vs. PHI, which came on April 29, 2023 in Houston. He took the loss in a 6-1 Astros defeat.

ASTROS-PHILS: The Astros have won 5 of their last 6 games vs. the Phillies. In those 6 games, Astros starters have combined for a 1.67 ERA (7ER/37.2IP). 3 of those 5 wins came via a shutout. HOU swept a 3-game series vs. PHI at Daikin Park in the last meeting between the 2 clubs, June 24-26 of 2025. In those 3 games, Astros pitchers allowed just 1 run in 27.0 IP.

Last Visit to CPB: The Phils took 2 of 3 from HOU in the last series here in Philly, Aug. 26-28 of 2024. In the final game of that series, Yordan Alvarez went 4×4 with 3 HR in a 10-0 Astros win.

Postseason History: The Astros and Phils have met twice in the postseason, with PHI taking the 1980 NLCS and the Astros winning the 2022 World Series.

MR. CRISTIAN: RHP Cristian Javier is making his 10th start and 15th appearance of the season this afternoon. He pitched well in his last start on Sept. 4 vs. ARI, allowing just 1 run and 1 hit in 5.0 IP with 8 strikeouts in a 3-1 Astros win.

Racking Up The K’s: In his last 4 starts, Javier has tallied 25 strikeouts in 17.1 innings of work.

Made History: In his last start at Citizens Bank Park, Javier was a part of just the 2nd no-hitter in World Series history, hurling 6.0 no-hit innings in the Astros 5-0 win in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series (11/2/22). Javier tallied 9 K’s in that outing. 6 current members of the Phillies started in that no-hitter. The night before the no-hitter, Phillies hitters combined for 5 HR in a 7-0 win in Game 3 of that WS.

ROAD WARRIORS: Today is the 3rd game (1-1 thus far) of a 6-game road trip for the Astros. After today’s game, they will fly to Florida for a 3-game set over the weekend vs. TB at Tropicana Field. Since going 1-9 on the first road trip of the 2026 season, the Astros have gone 36-25 (.590) on the road since April 14, which ranks third in the Majors in that span. More recently, they are 20-13 (.606) on their last 6 road trips combined (includes current trip).

LEAD PROTECTORS: Monday night’s win improved the Astros record to 64-0 when leading after 8.0 innings. They are 1 of 4 clubs that have not lost a game when leading after 8.0 innings. The others are TB (77-0), ARI (66-0), TEX (62-0).

BIG WES: With Tuesday night’s win, RHP Hayden Wesneski is now 3-0 in his last 4 starts with a 1.57 ERA (4ER/23IP). For the season, he is 5-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 8 starts (Astros are 7-1 in his starts).

THE HIT MAN: Jose Altuve collected his 2,500th career hit last night, becoming the 103rd player in ML history to reach this milestone. Freddie Freeman was the last player to reach 2,500 hits, which took place on June 9 of this year at PNC Park vs. PIT. Freeman (2,587) and Altuve (2,500) are the 2 active hits leaders in the Majors. Altuve ranks 2nd in franchise history in hits to Craig Biggio (3.060).

Another Record: Altuve’s 3-hit game on Sunday vs. ARI was the 225th of his career, which ties Biggio for the most in franchise history.

ON THE OFFENSIVE: The Astros lead the AL in SLG (.410), rank 2nd in HR (192), T-3rd in OPS (.725) and 5th in runs scored (660).

SLOW AND STEADY RECOVERY: Since starting the season with a 20-31 record after 51 games, the Astros are 54-41 (.568) in their last 95 games (since May 22). That is the second-best record in the AL in that span, behind only the Boston Red Sox.

WINNING THE WEST: The Astros currently hold a 2.0-game lead in the AL West over the 2nd-place Rangers. HOU finished at 9-4 vs. TEX, so they hold the tiebreaker vs. them.

STARTING STRONG: In the last 9 games, Astros starters have combined for a 2.94 ERA (16ER/49IP). The Astros are 5-4 in that span. Additionally, the Astros are 9-6 in their last 15 games, during which the starters have posted a combined 3.30 ERA (28ER/76.1IP).

TRIPLE THREAT: Yordan Alvarez, who is a solid candidate for the AL MVP Award, currently ranks 1st or 2nd in the AL in all three Triple Crown categories. He enters today leading the AL in batting avg. (.312), while ranking 2nd in HR (38) and RBI (96). Alvarez also leads the Majors in OPS (1.022) and leads the AL in SLG (.593) and OBP (.428).

Rare Feat: Since Carl Yastrzemski won the AL Triple Crown in 1967, there has been just one Triple Crown winner in the Majors, Miguel Cabrera in 2012 (AL).

CHALLENGING STRETCH: The Astros are 5-4 thus far while in the midst of a stretch of playing 4 consecutive teams (CWS, ARI, PHI, TB) with winning records, 2 of which are leading their respective divisions (CWS, TB), one that would qualify for the playoffs as a WC (PHI) and another that is 0.5 game out of a WC spot (ARI). In this stretch, HOU has gone 3-1 vs. CWS, 1-2 vs. ARI and 1-1 at PHI.

MEASURING UP: The Astros are 28-20 (.583) vs. teams currently at .500 or above. They own a winning record vs. several clubs that are in the AL postseason hunt: 5-1 vs. BOS, 5-2 vs. CWS, 4-2 vs. CLE, 2-1 vs. TB, 9-4 vs. TEX.

DOWN ON THE FARM: Single A Fayetteville is scheduled to play tonight at Fredericksburg in Game 2 of their Carolina League playoff series. They lead the series, 1-0.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2005 – In a 7-5 win at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Craig Biggio hits his 600th career double, becoming just the 13th player in MLB history to reach that milestone.

1980 – Jose Cruz is the hero with a 12-inning walk-off solo HR off Rick Sutcliffe to defeat the Dodgers in the Dome, 6-5.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Thursday, September 10, 12:05 p.m. CT

Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA

TV: Space City Home Network; MLB Network (subject to local blackout)

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Rubber match.

⚾️: 12:05 PM CT
📺: @MLBNetwork (HOU Blackout) | @SpaceCityHN
🎙️: @SportsTalk790 | Spanish: 102.9 HD2#ChaseTheFight x @reliantenergypic.twitter.com/g7beD2oOhH

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 10, 2026

Back in the powder blues 🩵#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/oLHnI5v4dl

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 10, 2026

Remember when the Dodgers went to the market and spent a lot of money to sign Edwin Díaz, baseball’s number one available relief pitcher simply because they could? Well, that hasn’t worked out the way everybody hoped. Intentionally overlooking the possibility — small, although very real — that something clicks and Díaz can perform up to his potential in the playoffs, the reigning back-to-back champs will have to make do without what they bargained for last offseason.

As damaging as that can be, this bullpen in its current construction bears no resemblance to the unit that was dragged over the finish line a season ago; this one is perfectly capable of not just getting by but fulfilling a crucial role in this quest for a three-peat.

Although other bullpens carry better stats, the Dodgers lead the National League in one particular category, one that will definitely come into play in October: strikeout rate, only trailing the Guardians in the entire sport with a 25.5-percent strikeout rate.

Any bullpen conversation with the Dodgers starts with Tanner Scott’s bounce-back, a pitcher we shall pretend arrived a year later than his contract would suggest. The former Padre has essentially filled the role set aside for Díaz before the season, as the standout closer acquired on the open market. Prone to inopportune slip-ups, hence the 1-5 record, Scott shouldn’t see his total production diminished to the point of skepticism around his ability to come up big in the playoffs. The air of invincibility may be lacking in comparison with other elite closers, such as Mason Miller and Josh Hader. Given where we were a year ago, it’s difficult not to embrace the optimism of this development. And we even have a backup plan for the closer role; more on that later.

Below Scott, the Dodgers rely on Edgardo Henríquez, who has firmly established himself as a key setup option, matching the wow factor of his stuff with the production on the mound. Henríquez was already a serviceable alternative coming up down the stretch last season. With adjustments to his arsenal and approach, the righty has taken his strikeout rate to the expected range for a pitcher of his qualities, near 30 percent.

The link in trust between last year’s bullpen and this season’s unit might be in the middle of a last dance in a Dodgers uniform. Alex Vesia — a free agent to be — might very well be priced out of staying with the Dodgers, who have other priorities, but let’s not dwell on that now and simply enjoy this special character who has been here since the start of this dynasty. Carrying on an extremely reliable career, becoming much more than the simple specialist he was first deployed as, Vesia has been equally dominant against righties and lefties—with a slugging percentage allowed below .300 facing either. Lastly, in the group of reliable regular-season options, you have maybe the heir apparent to Vesia in Jack Dreyer—a reliever developed in-house with similar fastball characteristics to Vesia, who has over 130 innings in the bigs since the start of last season with a sub-3.00 ERA. Equally dominant against righties and lefties, Dreyer is already a key cog in this bullpen, only in his second season as a big leaguer.

Beyond that trio, you have a balanced mixture of talented arms with a limited sample in the regular season, often due to injuries, and then perhaps this team’s secret weapon in the playoffs: talented starters turned relievers and all the flexibility they bring to the table. It’s difficult to imagine the Dodgers reaching their ultimate goal last season if not for the efforts of Roki Sasaki out of the bullpen, quickly becoming LA’s most trusted reliever back then. Working his way back from a nagging blister, Sasaki has taken steps forward on his way to establishing himself as a productive major league starter, but in the short term his postseason role once again lies in the work out of the bullpen. Considering his level of success as a closer last year, the Dodgers could reasonably hand him that role, but it should be noted that Scott has struggled when pitching in non-save situations this season, with an opponent’s OPS north of .700. Depending on how much weight the Dodgers place on that, they may just opt to keep him as the closer and have Sasaki in a firemen-type role.

While Sasaki is the high-profile name, there are other Dodgers starters who can provide a key impact working in relief, chief among them Justin Wrobleski, whose recent home run woes aside, has had a magnificent breakout campaign. On any other team, he’d be looked at as nothing but a starter, but the Dodgers can afford to rely on his skill set in a multi-inning role, similar to what we saw a year ago. A pitcher with more raw talent than Wrobleski but without the 2026 production to back that up, Emmet Sheehan looked great in his return to the bigs this month and will battle for a postseason spot down the stretch. If a pitcher as skilled as Sheehan ends up your go-to option to eat up innings in low-leverage spots, that’s something to be satisfied with.

All of this talent could reasonably be enough to get by in a scrap for the title, certainly much better than what Dave Roberts had at his disposal a year ago. However, we still haven’t even gotten to the wild cards of production—the ones that could make the difference between a pretty good bullpen showing and an outstanding one come the playoffs. It starts with perhaps the best success story of development in the Dodgers bullpen since Alex Vesia: Evan Phillips, who is finally healthy and pitching reasonably well in the time he’s been available.

When Phillips last pitched in the postseason, he was instrumental in helping the Dodgers get to the World Series before an injury kept him from participating in the Fall Classic. At his best, Phillips doesn’t come close to Díaz’s level, but he’s still a formidable force, and as things currently stand, there is no reason to believe he won’t carry that into October. He is probably the easiest name to be skipped to the front of the line in the race for high-leverage opportunities.

Beyond Phillips, you have Brock Stewart and Blake Treinen, whose case for reliability is a bit murkier, but it’s there nonetheless. However, the thing to note here is that even superb bullpens don’t have options of this quality just lying around with a small chance of being a big factor in the playoffs. It might even deserve more appreciation.

Legendary manager and future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker was brought to Houston in 2020 to restore credibility, pride and honor to the Astros organization and lead it to another World Championship. In his four years as the team’s skipper, Baker accomplished both of those lofty goals. He continued the Astros Golden Age by going to the ALCS every season he managed the team, and winning the 2022 World Series.

Baker is one of 19 people to ever win a World Series as both player and manager. He is 8th all time in managerial wins with 2,183 regular season wins, and he has 57 more in the postseason. He is the first manager in history to lead five different teams to division titles. He is the first African American manager to both 2000 career wins and to 50 career postseason wins. He is the oldest manager to appear in, and win, the World Series.

Baker has long been regarded as a players’ manager, renowned for the strong relationships he has built with his players over the years. In Houston, that is exactly the kind of relationship he had with Astros 2B Jose Altuve.

I reached out to Baker to get his thoughts on Jose Altuve becoming just the second active member and 103rd member in the history of baseball to join the 2500 hit club.

Baker could not have been happier for his former charge:

“It’s remarkable what he’s accomplished. The epitome of determination, will power, hard work and perseverance. Not to mention a ton of ability in a small package. Couldn’t happen to a finer person. Next stop: 3000, then the Hall of Fame.”

From one future Hall of Famer to another.

Go Rays!